


The Thrilling Gardner Museum Heist

by icantwritegood



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Frenemies, Rivals, all that jazz, multiple heists and a whole lot of fun, now THIS is a heist AU, ryan may have bit off more than he can chew with this new detective, shane doesn't care at the beginning but he gets real annoyed real quick, yknow the type of thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2019-03-17 13:32:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 42,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13660023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icantwritegood/pseuds/icantwritegood
Summary: Ryan and Shane met once before, when one was just a petty thief and the other was your average cop. Now they’ve both climbed much higher in their professions, and are about to cross paths again. It might get a bit personal.Spoiler: it will most definitely get personal.





	1. Hard to Handle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"Baby here I am,_   
>  _I'm the man on the scene,_   
>  _I can give you what you want_   
>  _But you gotta' come home with me."_

The incident room was almost unbearably stuffy. It was too hot, and too loud, and all Shane wanted was for everyone to shut up and leave. Unfortunately, he'd been assigned the new head detective on these stupid heist cases because they were seemingly 'unsolvable'. He rolled his eyes at the thought. Nothing was _unsolvable_. Especially not to him. He cleared his throat for silence, which promptly came. They knew who he was. Everyone knew who he was. Because he was a god damn legend, that's what he was. Not a single case left unsolved, so far. And he intended to keep it that way.

"Has the night guard been questioned?" he asked into the sudden silence. "Abath? Richard Abath?"

The girl, the Crime Scene Officer, nodded, her curly hair bouncing as she did so. "Mmhmm. He said the guys simply dressed as cops, so he let them in. Then they simply robbed the place."

"Well, he sure sounds like an idiot."

"I completely agree."

TJ spoke up, lifting his head off the table for just about long enough to get his sentence out. "Well one thing to definitely note is that the security system was down, being updated, so maybe the guys knew that was happening."

Shane raised an eyebrow at him. "Yeah. Good thinking. I'm surprised you're even awake."

"It's half seven in the morning, Madej! I'm an IT guy, I function only in the darkest hours."

Shane sighed heavily, turning away. "Let's just see our suspects here, shall we?" He gestured for the curly-haired woman to take the stage, sweeping an arm at the boards. "As you all probably know, I've only been assigned this morning, and I'll be honest and say I haven't the slightest idea what's going on. So please, introduce the villains for this particular piece."

"Right." Sara hopped up, taking his place beside the screen. "Right, well our top suspect is Ryan Bergara. He's a-"

Shane frowned, mouth slightly open. "Wait, hold on. What's his name?"

"Bergara. Ryan."

"Bergara." He nodded slowly to himself, still frowning in thought. "Any photo ID?"

"Yeah-huh." She pressed a button or two, and up popped the appropriate picture. "That's him. I know he doesn't exactly look like your average criminal, but-"

"He looks like a straight-up teddy bear," quipped TJ, grinning.

Shane stepped forwards, squinting at the smiling face on the screen. "Well, would you look at that. He was one of my first cases when I was, like, twenty. He was just a petty thief. That’s crazy, man."

"Really?" It was Andrew this time, the highway patrol guy, who evenly split his time between keeping the roads nice and safe and drag-racing on isolated dirt roads outside the city. "You've dealt with him before?"

Uh oh. Maybe he shouldn't have brought this up. "Uh, yeah. A good while ago now. Can't remember him that well."

"Do you think he could've done it?"

Shane paused, thinking. "I don't actually know. He seemed a nice enough guy, but I felt like he wore a mask sometimes."

"But look at him." TJ gestured at the screen. "He looks like a plushie."

"It's always the cute and cuddly ones that are the bad guys, though." Shane shrugged, sitting on the edge of the table. "You ever seen _Hoodwinked_? That rabbit was a real dick."

"Moving on," said Sara dryly, looking from one to the other. "Bergara started at low-level stuff, but he's not quite like that anymore."

"Then why hasn't he been brought in?" Shane stood with his hands on his hips, eyebrows raised. "Hello? Anyone want to tell me why the cartoon gopher hasn't been hauled in here and shaken up a bit?"

"We can never find anything," said Sara slowly, looking just as ashamed as her other two teammates. "We've searched his place, but it just never gives us anything. Nothing incriminating on the internet either. He just seems like your average accountant, which is what he claims he is."

"Gives him plenty of opportunity to scooch money around," said Andrew dryly.

Shane paused, looking at the face on the screen again. "And how certain are you that he could be our guy?"

"Oh, he's not our only guy. He's a part of our guys. There's a bunch of them." Sara flicked through the photos as she spoke, her voice bitter as she reeled off their names and 'professions'. "Kelsey Darragh. She's his roommate, and a supposed waitress in some restaurant nearby their apartment. This is Steven Lim, a long-haul delivery driver. Of all vehicles from a car to a 'copter, it seems. And then there's Adam. No second name, because we're not quite sure if he exists."

Shane blinked at this last one, looking suitably puzzled. "You what? How can you not know if he exists? That's his face, right?"

She shrugged awkwardly. "Yeah, but we've never actually found him in person."

"He's their tech guy, I'm guessing," said TJ, scowling as he spoke. "And damn good at it. I've never been able to trace any signals. I've never gotten a location on him. He's just... there. Floating in the background."

"If he's even real," said Sara again, raising a finger. "They could just be messing with us."

"No way. Unless they're all technology experts now."

Shane raised a hand for silence, the other on his hip as he thought to himself. "Look. Look, I'm going to pay our friend Bergara a quick visit. Reintroduce myself. Let him know I'm not here to fuck around, okay? I want this closed as soon as possible. No more stalling, or delaying, or general dilly-dallying. Yeah?"

He didn't wait for them to answer; they couldn't exactly say no, anyway. He strolled down the corridor, Bergara's file in hand, flipping through it for his current address. Oh yes, a visit should be a pleasant surprise for his old... _friend_. If Ryan remembered him - and he most definitely should - he'd know that he wasn't coming out of this one innocent. Unless, of course, he _was_ innocent. Which Shane highly doubted. Because even if Ryan somehow didn't remember him, he most definitely remembered Ryan. 

* * *

People tend to think of heists as smooth. Suave. Classy people in classier suits. Ryan knew this was bullshit. It didn't matter what you wore, or what your attitude was. Not really. What mattered was detailed, meticulous planning, and a team of people as dedicated and loyal as he was. Regarding that aspect, he'd hit the jackpot. Steven sometimes didn't know when to shut up, but he could navigate routes like he had a sixth sense. Kelsey could chat, or flirt, her way into almost any situation, and was a booming socialite as a result (or a, uh, 'waitress' for the records). Adam was... Adam. Reserved. Quiet. Hidden away in some building that he'd removed from every record, leaving him and his mountain of computers essentially non-existent. And he seemed to like it that way.

Kelsey popped her head in the door, smiling a big red-lipsticked smile at him. "Yo, I'm gonna go get some drink for later. The heist isn't tonight, is it?"

"How many times do I have to remind you not to say that so casually, Kels?" He sighed heavily, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, it's tomorrow. Don't be hungover, please."

"Yeah. Sure. See ya in a few!" She was back in almost instantly, however, and sans the bright smile. "Dude, there's a cop car outside."

He straightened up, eyes wide. "What? Are you sure?"

"Well, it's black with blacked-out windows, I just assumed-"

"Fuck." He hurried out to the kitchen, peering out the window, eyes narrowed as the door to the car was pushed open, an unfamiliar face stepping out. “Hey, wait a second. That’s not Bennett.”

And it wasn’t. This guy sauntered towards the apartments, black suit and tie, white shirt, shades, badge blatantly shining on his belt. He clearly wasn’t one for subtlety, and also didn't seem to give a fuck about it. Kelsey buzzed him in straight away, sharing a confused look with Ryan, the two of them giving the apartment an extremely quick once-over to make sure everything was suitably hidden away.

There was three knocks on the door, unnecessarily loud. Ryan reluctantly opened the door, raising an eyebrow at the tall man in front of him. Up close, he looked somewhat familiar. Unnervingly so.

“…Yes?”

“Mr Bergara?”

“Yeah." A pause. "I’m him.”

“Good.” The guy simply pushed past, leaving Ryan suitably puzzled by the door. “Nice place you got here. For a humble accountant. And a waitress.”

 _Who the fuck is this guy?_ “I’m a good accountant.”

The man threw him a dry look over his shoulder as he continued on into the apartment, a lot more relaxed than he had the right to be. “I'm sure you are.”

“Hello,” said Kelsey brightly, shaking his hand firmly. "I'm Ryan's roommate. I hope you're not too strict, haha!"

Shane gave her a flat look, lifting up the $50 note she had just pressed into his hand. "Are you trying to bribe me, ma'am? Because that's pretty illegal."

"Oh my God, no! I just totally forgot that was in my hand!" She laughed loudly, suddenly going quiet. "I have pot in my room. Please don't arrest me."

He pocketed the cash, turning on his heel to look at Ryan, who had stayed by the door. "Where do you do all your accounting, if I may ask?"

Ryan shrugged, gesturing vaguely. "Around. Here and there."

“Okay. Sure.” Shane opened one of the thick ledgers sitting on the table, casually flicking through it. “You both must earn a hell of a lot. This place is pretty lavish.” He picked the ledger up, shaking it upside down. "A bit suspicious for two individuals of your modest professions."

“Excuse me.” Ryan snatched the ledger, returning Shane's indignant glare. “I don’t know who you are, but I want to see a warrant before you start looking through our stuff.”

“Right, yeah.” The man’s eyes were already drifting off around the kitchen as he held a folded piece of paper out in the general direction of Ryan. “Knock yourself out. Can I see a list of your clients?”

Ryan snatched the paper, squinting at the signature on the end of it. His blood went cold as he deciphered the scrawl. “...Are you Shane Madej?”

"I most definitely am." The man smiled at him, eyebrows raised. “Does that rattle a tambourine?”

 _It conducts an entire orchestra_. He handed the warrant back, hoping he didn't look as shaken as he felt. "I thought you transferred to Chicago."

"For a little bit."

"You issue your own warrants now?" Ryan raised his eyebrows. "You must've climbed pretty high since our last encounter."

"As have you," replied Shane wryly, looking him up and down. "But I'm sure a man of your stature is well used to climbing. You have to open the cupboards somehow, right?"

Kelsey clicked her fingers, a hand over her mouth. "Oooooh, _snap!_ I gotta tell Ad-"

The look she got from Ryan could've sliced her in half. Shane's eyes were glued to her as well, his mouth half-open, whatever words he was about to say frozen in the air. 

"You have to tell who?" prompted Shane, his voice quiet. 

"No one," said Ryan firmly, willing the taller man to look back at him.

"I wasn't asking you, Bergara." He turned to look at Kelsey directly, her eyes wide as she stared back. "Were you about to say Adam? Who's Adam? Who is he? What does he do?"

"I was about to say Steven," she replied after a long pause. "I'm, uh, dyslexic."

"Where's Adam?" he demanded, circling the table towards her, gaze intense. "What's his full name?"

"She doesn't have to answer any of your stupid questions, Madej," snapped Ryan, hurrying around the other side of the table so that Kelsey was stuck between them, her face frozen as she stared intently at nothing. "You don't have an arrest warrant."

"Don't think I won't get one," said Shane icily, glaring at him. "I want a list of your clients. Now."

"You have a _search_ warrant, if I remember right." He smiled at him, gesturing at the apartment. "So, Mr Madej. Search."

" _Detective_ Madej," corrected Shane as he turned away. "And alright. I will search." He nonchalantly stuck a hand out as he passed by a small set of drawers, knocking the lamp off and simply watching as the bulb burst on the ground. "Oops. My bad. Searching can be a bit messy, I think you'll find."

Ryan watched with gritted teeth as the detective placed a foot against the small drinks cabinet, holding Ryan's gaze as he deliberately kicked it over. The sound of shattering glass came from within it, forcing a whimper from Kelsey's mouth.

"Oh, clumsy me," said Shane flatly, wandering towards the TV, placing a threatening hand on it. "I'm just so damn _clumsy_ recently. It's infuriating."

Ryan closed his eyes, lips pressed together in a firm line. _Not the television. Not the damn television_. "Don't!"

A satisfied grin spread across Shane's face as he righted the TV. "Oh, you've found the list of clients for me? Wonderful."

Ryan disappeared for a few minutes, storming back into the room like a moody child, shoving the paper into the taller man's chest. "There. Choke on it."

"I don't actually want to, so, no." He nodded at them both, almost friendly, but not quite. "I'll be seeing both of you around, I'd say. A lot."

"And why would you say that?" Ryan followed him to the door, trying to keep the apprehension from his voice. "Where's Detective Bennett?"

"Brent's gone, pal." He smiled down at him, a smile that made Ryan want to knock it off his face. "It's me you'll be dealing with from now on. Just like the good old days. Oh, don't look so upset. I'm sure we'll have loads of fun!"

Ryan took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "If you're doing this on purpose because of... because of what _happened_ , I think you should just get over it."

"There's nothing to get over, Ryan. I'm sure you'll agree."

"Yeah, I do agree."

"Great! We're on the same page." He stepped out through the door, turning back to raise an eyebrow at the shorter man. "No hard feelings, right?"

"No feelings at all," muttered Ryan, gripping the door handle much tighter than necessary. "If I remember correctly."

Shane gave him a wry smile, waving the client list at him. "Thanks for your cooperation. I'll be keeping an eye on you, Bergara."

"Don't forget to keep an eye on the papers, too," replied Ryan lightly. "Lots of heists popping up recently. About time another one does, don't you think?"

The detective paused, his smile slipping every so slightly. "Don't get too cocky, Ryan."

"You mean stop acting like you? Gladly."

Shane gave him one last lingering look as he turned away, almost as if he wanted to say something, but decided against it at the last minute. Ryan closed the door, leaning against it for a long moment. _Fuck it anyway_. He was suddenly in a lot deeper than he'd originally thought he was, doing laps in the pool one moment, struggling to stay afloat in the middle of the sea the next. _No, no, you're just overreacting. Just relax for a minute_.

"Well that guy was fucking terrifying!" Kelsey mimed wiping sweat off her forehead, blowing air out of her mouth. "Yikes! Anyway, I'm definitely getting alcohol now. Will I pick you up some?"

He shook his head, letting her through the door. "Uh, no. No, I'm good. Thanks."

He had to stay sharp, especially now. Because if Shane was still the same as he was the last time, which he so far seemed to be, he'd blow the whole city up rather than leave a case unsolved under his watch. God, he'd been a nightmare. And that whole other mess... Ryan mentally shook himself, moving back to his room, to his desk. He had to focus. He had a heist to plan, and a few friends to call. Ryan would have to tread very carefully now, he knew he would. But was there any point in treading carefully on a floor of hot coal?


	2. Psychotic Reaction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"I feel depressed, I feel so bad,_   
>  _'Cause you're the best girl that I ever had._   
>  _I can't get your love, I can't get a fraction,_   
>  _Uh-oh, I got a little psychotic reaction."_

Two heists in two weeks? It was impressive, Shane had to admit. A completely different style from the Gardner Museum one. A good bit cheaper, however. The pieces taken from the Gardner Museum had totaled $500 million. It was a bank this time, too. $30 million in cold hard cash. The difference between the amount of money taken had Shane feeling almost... insulted. Not quite humiliated, not yet. But it seemed to be a bit of a 'we just took this because we could' type thing. A move of pettiness. And Shane only knew one person connected to all this who he'd given reason to be bitter. 

"And you never heard anything? At all?"

"I'm only renting this property for storage, officer. I haven't been in it myself for months!"

Shane tried to keep his impatience hidden as the woman made her sickening wealth more and more obvious. "Alright. So they said they were landscapers?"

The woman nodded, smiling. "Yes, and I believed them. They said there was something wrong with the foundation of the house, and to give them access so that they could fix it."

 _You idiot_. "And what did they look like?"

"Oh, I didn't see them. I only spoke to them on the phone."

Well, this was just getting better and better. "So you had no idea these people were digging a giant hole over a couple of months in your property's garden which ran all the way to a bank vault?"

She shook her head firmly. "No idea. Quite a feat, though!"

He gave her a flat look. "Mmm. Quite."

"Do you have any leads?"

He ignored the question, glancing around for any sign of TJ. "Thank you for your help, Ms...?"

"Pan. Helen Pan."

TJ drifted into view across the massive hole dug into the earth in the center of the garden, squinting at the tablet in his hand. Flashlights flickered in the tunnel as Shane crouched down at the edge, waving at TJ to come over. No one could dig a tunnel this big without some sort of professional tools. It wasn't just a group of people with shovels. It was a group of people who knew exactly what they were doing. Someone friendly and chatty to convince the owner of the property to let them in, someone with enough technological expertise to disable the bank's security, someone who could transport the mountains of dirt without being noticed. And someone who planned it down to a T.

"Get me Bergara's recent purchases, will you?" Shane straightened up, still looking down into the tunnel. "Actually, get me all their recent purchases. Anything even remotely to do with building, I want to know. Okay?"

"I'm on it," said TJ absent-mindedly, fingers dancing across the screen of his iPad. "Yeah, here we are. Bergara, Lim, Darragh. Looks clean to me, boss."

Shane took the tablet, squinting at lists of perfectly innocent purchases. "It doesn't make sense. I _know_ it was them. Ryan said there'd be another heist soon, and two days later a bank is robbed of $30 million? He knew."

"Maybe it wasn't them, man. There's nothing in any of their accounts."

Reluctantly, Shane handed back the iPad, rubbing a hand over his mouth as he thought. "No, it's definitely them. They're just good at hiding it."

"It's that Adam guy, probably. We find him, and they're screwed."

"Well maybe get on that then, yeah?"

"I've been on it for a year now, Shane! He's a damn ghost!"

"No, he's not!" Shane crossed the yard towards the large dark wood doors that lead into the building, hearing TJ follow behind. "The girl, Kelsey, almost said his name. She said 'Ad' and then stopped, and the look on Bergara's face was _not_  amused. Adam _does_ exist. And we're going to find him."

"If you say so," shrugged TJ, stopping at the front door. "Where're you going, man?"

"I'm gonna get a coffee," he called back over his shoulder. "You want one?"

"Nah. My blood is probably 98% caffeine at this point."

* * *

Ryan kept a subtle eye on the property as he strolled along the street. He was beginning to regret letting his emotions get the better of him; he'd wanted to let Shane know he didn't have a chance of catching them, or stopping them. Just grab a couple of million, just because they could. But a humiliated Shane was a dangerous Shane, that he _definitely_ remembered. The police presence outside the property was obvious; cop cars, uniformed officers, and of course, Shane's car, parked haphazardly up on the curb. So he had barely changed, it seemed. Fantastic. 

"They won't find anything," said Steven quietly, seeing the anxious look on Ryan's face. "So stop worrying, dude."

"You're sure your accounts are clean?"

"Positive. It was Helen who-"

"Shut up, Steven!" He slapped the man sharply on the arm, earning an offended scowl. "For all the cops know, we don't know the owner. She's a stranger. And we'd best keep it that way, yeah?"

"Uh, yeah. Sorry. Anyway, the papers say the cops have no leads, so we're good!"

Ryan rolled his eyes, pulling the brim of his cap down further as they wandered closer to the building, sticking to the side of the street lined with little shops and quaint cafes. "It's not us that I'm worried about anyway, really. It's the new detective. He's-"

As if his cue had been called, Shane appeared out of the coffee shop just ahead of them, pausing on the edge of the path to glance up and down the busy road before crossing. His gaze drifted past Ryan's frozen face, immediately snapping back to stare at him. A few long seconds passed. Then a smile spread across the detective's face as he turned away from the road, sauntering down the path towards them as if approaching old friends.

"Well, what brings you two around here, huh?" He placed a finger under the brim of Ryan's cap, pushing it up slightly so that he could see his face better. "Don't be acting suspicious, now. People might think you're up to something."

"Oh, we're not allowed walk now, are we not?" said Ryan flatly, brushing the taller man's hand away. "I see you're working hard. Or perhaps hardly working is more appropriate?"

"Hmm. Funny." Shane gestured vaguely at the large house with the hand holding his coffee, not taking his eyes from Ryan's face. "You ever been in there?"

"Nope."

"And what about you, pal?" Shane turned his stare to Steven, who pressed his lips together in a tight smile. "Ever had a stint as a landscaper, hm?"

"Uh, no. Nope."

"You can't just question us out in the middle of the street, Madej." Ryan raised his eyebrows at him. "I thought you'd be a bit more professional than you used to be. But maybe I was wrong."

Shane took a deep breath, looking over Ryan's head at the street behind him as he spoke. "Yet here I am anyway. It must just be because I'm good at my job." He dropped his eyes back down to Ryan's, giving him a lazy smile. "Let's hope you are too. For your own sake."

"I don't know what you're implying," replied Ryan dryly, arms folded firmly across his chest. "But I think we're done here."

"You think?"

The shorter man narrowed his eyes up at him. "Yeah, I do."

"Got stuff to do, huh? Things to plan?"

"Just people to avoid," said Ryan meaningfully, an amused smile appearing on Shane's face. "Starting now, funnily enough."

"Mm. I'm sure." The detective nodded at him, threw a quick look at Steven, and then simply wandered off towards Helen Pan's rented property. He didn't even look back. 

The two men continued on, both a little more unnerved than they had been five minutes ago.

Steven turned his head slightly to whisper to Ryan. "The delivery starts later, right?"

"Yep." Ryan gave him a serious look. "And we have to be quick about it. Are Brunson's guys in the city?"

"Yeah. They've brought their own vans. And they've transferred half the money to Adam already."

"Cool." He threw one last look over his shoulder at the looming building that was Helen Pan's 'rented storage unit'. "Let's just hope it goes smoothly, yeah?"

* * *

The paintings from the Gardner heist would be loaded into Brunson's vans at Steven's. He was the only one with a back entry anyway, _and_ a large enough garage to store all his cars, and anything extra they needed to. In fact, it should be starting now. Ryan sat in his own apartment at the kitchen table, blueprints spread out, a map with various addresses circled in red underneath said blueprints. This one was going to be a bit more risky than what they'd usually do, but luckily this was the part he liked; the planning, the researching, it was something he was just good at. And since Kelsey was out partying it up with Helen, he actually had a few hours of undisturbed quiet to do it. Or so he thought.

He'd already started folding up the papers in front of him by the time the third knock rang out. He opened the fridge, taking out the fake carton of milk and stuffing the pages into it before popping it back in. The simple things always worked the best, he found. It could just be Steven at the door, but he had to be safe. He always had to be safe.

Ryan opened the door, pausing. _For fuck's sake_. "Is this going to be a regular thing, Madej?"

"As regular as it needs to be." Shane showed himself in, picking up one of the various pens on the otherwise blank kitchen table before raising an eyebrow at him. "You scribble on the tables now, do you?"

Ryan ignored the question, hands on his hips. "Go on then. Just do your search. It's late, and I'm tired."

"Aw, poor Ryan. Didn't sleep much last night, did you?" Shane was watching him closely, still holding the pen, twirling it in his fingers. "Were you out and about, hm?"

"Is this some sort of questioning? Because if it is, I'm not doing it in my own home."

"No need to be so defensive, Bergara." He paused. "Innocent men don't get so defensive."

Ryan smiled dryly. "Oh, y'know, you just do that to me."

"Mm." He finally looked away, moving to the calendar pinned on the wall. He tapped today's date, which had a name in red scrawled across it. "Who's Brunson?"

 _For fuck's sake, Kelsey, I just asked you to circle the date_. "None of your business."

"And you're off to Milan in a few days? You're a well-traveled accountant, aren't you?" _And Utah in a few weeks?_ Shane blinked as the calendar was snapped closed.

"Visiting family," said Ryan quickly, his hand still on the calendar. "And I'd appreciate it if you don't go sticking your pointy-ass nose into my personal life, thanks. I think you've done that enough already."

"Ah, but that was so long ago." Shane smiled down at him, an eyebrow arched. "Speaking of, how's the family doing?"

 _Still not talking to me because of you_. "As if you give a fuck."

"Ooh, touchy."

"Shut up, Shane." He yanked the calendar off the wall, promptly dumping it straight into the trash. If only he could do the same with a certain someone. "This is police harassment."

"Yeah, good luck with that one." Shane followed him into the sitting room, staying in the doorway, hands in his pockets. "How long are you going to try and play innocent, Ryan?"

"How long are you going to keep springing random searches on me?" shot back Ryan, pointing a finger at him. "When are you going to realize you should just give up?"

"I don't give up," replied Shane firmly. 

"What happened to your whole 'oh, let it be a mystery' motto?"

"That doesn't really apply when I know it's not a mystery." Shane moved towards him, noticing how the shorter man visibly bristled as he did so. "I know it's you. And your little gang. I know it."

"You don't know it! You're just- You're just bitter."

"Bitter?" Shane laughed dryly, shaking his head as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I'm not _bitter_ , Ryan. I'm just doing my job."

"Yeah. Sure."

"You're the one who sounds bitter," said Shane coolly. "If I'm gonna be honest."

"No, no, I-" Ryan gave him a flat look, lips pressed together in a firm line. "Don't try and flip this around, Shane."

"Look, whatever we were doing, it ran its course, okay?" said the detective lightly, shrugging. "I'm sorry if that was so upsetting for you."

"It wasn't-" Ryan stopped himself, taking a deep breath. "It's half one in the damn morning, Shane. I think you should go."

Shane bit back a smile. "Wow, I think I just had déjà vu."

"Get lost, Madej!"

"Alright, fine! I will." He turned away, hearing Ryan follow him across the kitchen to the door. "I think I can let myself out."

"Yeah, don't blame me if I don't trust you," said Ryan, opening the door. "I don't-" His eyes suddenly widened at something in the corridor outside, and he slammed the door closed, his grip white-knuckled on the handle.

Shane stared at him, waiting for an explanation. The drunken giggles of two women came from just outside. "What's the face for? Who's out there?"

"Uh, nothing. No one."

"Then let me out." He pulled at the handle, frowning as Ryan simply pushed the door closed again. "What the fuck are you doing, Bergara? Who's outside?"

"No one!"

"Then get away from the fucking door!" He half-opened it, Ryan instantly slamming it closed. "Ryan, I swear to God if you don't tell me who or what is outside that door-"

"It's nothing!"

"Then let me out, before I put you _through_ the fucking door!" He pulled again, slapping Ryan's hand away as the shorter man reached to close it again. "Back off, Bergara! If it's some accomplice or something you're-"

The open door revealed nothing but Kelsey, her hair mussed, makeup smudged, and looking fit to burst she was trying so hard not to laugh. "Hey, bitches. I mean officer. _Officer_."

Shane looked up and down the corridor, frowning. "Where's the person you were with?"

Her eyes met Ryan's for a split second, a big smile still plastered on her face. "I don't got no one with me, officer. Just me and my crippled dignity."

"Shut up." He stepped out into the hall, spinning as he scanned both sides. "There was someone else. A woman. Where is she?"

"You must've just been hearing things," said Ryan as casually as he could, ushering the drunk Kelsey inside. "Maybe you're putting too much pressure on yourself!"

Shane didn't even reply, pacing off down the corridor, phone already to his ear as he threw a suspicious look over his shoulder at the two of them. Ryan closed the door, listening for a long moment just in case the guy decided to come back. It was quiet. Quiet, but for Kelsey's excited giggles.

"What the fuck were you thinking, Kels?" Ryan ran a hand through his hair, watching incredulously as she stumbled into the kitchen, kicking off her heels. "Kelsey, come on! Why the hell did you bring her here?"

"I didn't know the stupid police guy would be here!" She collapsed onto the chair he'd been sitting on only twenty minutes ago. "We were having _fun_ , I wanted to keep drinking here!"

"So you brought Helen back here?!" He pinched the bridge of his nose like he had a terrible headache. "If Shane had seen her... We'd be absolutely fucked. Oh my God, we'd be screwed."

"But he didn't, so it's okay!"

"Is she definitely gone?"

"Oh yeah, the guy went the other way to where she went."

Ryan moved to the window, watching as the detective crossed the road to his car, still talking animatedly into the phone. "I hope to God she did."

* * *

"No no, _Brunson_." Shane sat into his car, throwing a narrow-eyed glance up at where Ryan lingered in the window. "With a 'u', not an 'o'. Yeah. Anything to do with money, or- or art, try art. Also, get us tickets to Milan for three days from now. Mmhmm, yeah, but it's not going to be a holiday, so tell TJ to stop celebrating. We..." His voice trailed off as a weirdly familiar figure hurried across the road a few cars down, struggling in her heels as she teetered slightly. "Hold on a damn second. Hold on."

He stepped out of his car, holding the door open as the woman hopped on one leg to get one heel off. "Hey! Hey, you, turn around!"

She froze, keeping her back to him. She definitely heard him. There's no way she couldn't have. He closed his car door, noticing that she started striding away at the sound. Keeping his phone to his ear, he began hurrying after her.

"I think it's Helen fucking Pan," he said into the phone, as quietly as he could. "Yeah, the owner of that property where the hole was dug. She's running. She's running!"

How the fuck could this bitch run so well in heels? He had just broken into a run himself when he heard the few rapid footsteps behind him. Spinning to face the sound, he barely had time to blink before Ryan slammed into him with enough force to break down a door. Shane landed heavily on his back, winded, Ryan falling on top of him. The detective coughed for breath, the shorter man deliberately pressing down on his chest as he got to his feet. Well, ow.

"What the absolute fuck, Bergara?" Shane rolled onto his front, stiffly straightening up, his breath still eluding him. "Jesus fucking Christ, man."

Ryan stared at him with wide eyes, as if he hadn't really meant to do what he had just done. "Uh, you forgot this..?"

Shane stared at the pen held out towards him, the pen he had first picked up when he entered the apartment. "First of all, that's not even mine. It's yours. Second, that's not a good enough excuse to fucking attack me, Ryan!"

"I didn't attack you! You just-"

"Why was Helen Pan outside your apartment?"

Ryan stared at him, mouth open slightly. "I have no idea who that is."

"Don't bullshit me, Ryan." Shane glanced over his shoulder at where he'd seen her running, turning back to glare down at him. "I _just_ saw her. So spit it out."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh yeah? Well I'm sure the CCTV will." Shane put his phone back to his ear. "Sara, you still there? Put the Brunson thing on hold, I-"

Ryan suddenly slapped the phone from his hand, watching as it clattered to the floor. Shane stared at it in stunned silence, his hand still raised as if holding the phone. For a long moment, they stood with their eyes locked, one anxious, the other furious. 

"Are you fucking high or something?" Shane shoved him back a step before picking his phone up, dusting the screen off with his sleeve. "You're pushing your fucking luck here, Ryan. Maybe I've been a bit too easy on you because of our- our _history_ , but that's two strikes. One more, and I'll-" He stopped himself, taking a deep breath. "Go back inside, you little idiot. Before I lose my patience."

Ryan threw one last look down the road to make sure Helen was definitely gone before meeting Shane's glare with one of his own. "For the record, I don't see how our 'history' would give you any reason to go easy on me. I would've thought the opposite."

"Well maybe you're right. Maybe I should just go full steam ahead and absolutely crush you. How would you like that?"

"So you _are_ bitter."

"I am not fucking bitter," said Shane sharply, stepping forwards to jab a hard finger in his chest. "If I was bitter, I'd drag you in for assaulting a police officer. But I won't."

Ryan smiled at him. "Aw, that's sweet."

"It's not sweet." He pushed the shorter man aside, striding back towards his car. "You son of a bitch."

Ryan headed back towards the apartments, his thoughts already racing, bouncing around in his head. He'd acted rashly there, he knew he had, but if Shane had gotten hold of Helen they'd be in a lot of trouble. At least the Brunson thing could be swept aside pretty easily. And Adam would get rid of the CCTV of Helen being in the apartments. But the fact Shane had seen Helen with his own eyes wouldn't be so easy to brush aside. 

* * *

"She's an art collector?"

"Mmhmm." TJ spun the laptop to show him. "Quinta Brunson, art collector, particularly fond of oil paintings. Which were what was stolen from the Gardner museum, I think."

"Well fuck it anyway." Shane sat down in the chair across from him, shrugging off his jacket. "The son of a bitch is dealing the art he steals to actual art connoisseurs. But where the hell could they be doing the deliveries? And the money must be transferred all under the radar. God damn it."

"Ohhhh shit." Sara hurried into the room, plonking herself down at the table. "Guys, guys, I think we have something."

Shane immediately straightened up, all eager. "Really? What?"

"Helen Pan not only owns that property where the hole was dug, she owns the damn Gardner museum, and got a hefty amount of money from the insurance on the stolen paintings." Sara pushed the folder towards Shane, who grabbed it off the table. "And guess who does her accounting?"

Shane froze, his head snapping up to look at her. "Ryan fucking Bergara."

"Spot on, Madej."

"This is fucking brilliant." He smiled a wide smile, getting to his feet. "Bring her in first thing in the morning. I want Pan in here and in a room at 9am sharp. Got it? And then I want Bergara, and I want Darragh. Separately."

Sara nodded quickly, scribbling it down on her hand as she got to her feet. "Yep. No problem."

"And TJ, did you get those flights to Milan?"

"Yeah, for six on Tuesday morning." He and Sara followed Shane to the door. "Why are we going, by the way?"

"Because it was on Bergara's calendar." Shane turned to stop them, hands on his hips. "And there's a hell of a lot of museums in Milan. So if they strike, I want to be there. And bring Ilnyckyj."

Sara gave him a thumbs up as she slid past him. "Nice one, bossman."

TJ raised an eyebrow at him, noticing how Shane's gaze had already become distant. "Hey, you still there?"

"Yeah-huh."

"...I don't think I've ever seen you this obsessed with a case before. Like, are you alright?"

"Mm. I know, right?" Shane nodded distractedly, turning away. "See you tomorrow."

"It's not because it's Ryan, is it?"

Shane paused, half-turning to look at him. "Excuse me?"

TJ shrugged awkwardly. "Well, I know you two had a kind of _thing_ , didn't you? I was your partner, after all."

"No. No, we didn't have a 'thing'. He was a damn criminal, TJ. Not a major one, but he was still one."

"Yeah, but didn't you-"

"No," said Shane firmly, hiding his clenched fists in his pockets. "And keep your suspicions to yourself, yeah?"

"Sure, man. Of course."

Shane turned away, heading off down the corridor a lot faster than he previously had been. He'd forgotten that TJ had been there for basically the whole thing. Well, fuck it anyway. It didn't matter in the end. It had started and finished in flames, and now it was over. Gone. History. Or at least that's what he told himself the entire drive home.


	3. Nowhere To Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"'Cause I know you're no good for me,_   
>  _But you've become a part of me_   
>  _Everywhere I go, your face I see,_   
>  _Every step I take, you take with me, yeah."_

Shane took the only other seat in the small room, scooching his chair in, making himself comfortable despite the fact he had no real reason to be. Helen Pan had lied, and denied, until Sara just gave up. And the worst thing was the 'malfunctioning' CCTV footage. A whole hour missing, between one and two in the morning. How coincidental. But it left him with nothing. Nothing but a chance to run a few rings around this idiot, and hope he'd slip up.

"You gonna tell me why I've been brought in here?" asked Ryan after a few moments of thoughtful silence from the detective. "Or am I supposed to just guess?"

"Actually, that's a good idea." Shane rested his arms on the table, fingers interlocked. "Guess."

Ryan gave him a flat look. "I don't know."

"Come on. Try."

"Um... You never got closure?"

It was Shane's turn to give the flat look now. "Let's steer away from that subject, shall we?"

"If you want." 

"I do want."

"Why? It was _you_ who left, anyway."

Shane threw him a warning glare. "Shut up, Ryan. I didn't bring you in to discuss any of that bullshit."

Ryan shrugged, folding his arms across his chest. "Alright. Cool. But just remember that it was you who left. Because you got scared."

" _Not here_ , Ryan." His tone made it clear that that was the end of the conversation, his face for once lacking a smirk. "Helen Pan. What is she to you?"

Ryan's answer was immediate, his face blank. "I don't know her."

"So you've been insisting."

"Because I don't," replied Ryan firmly. "I've never met her. I don't know what she looks like, or sounds like, or-"

"Right, I'm going to stop you right there." He distractedly took a few pages from the file in front of him, his eyes skimming the top one. "I don't know how you got rid of the CCTV, although I have my suspicions. But anyway, Pan herself also insists that she doesn't know you. But she did let something slip."

Ryan stared at him, waiting for him to continue. "And what imaginary thing did she let slip?"

"That you're her accountant," said Shane slowly, his gaze flickering up to Ryan's face. "Is that true?"

"I-" He paused, squinting at the pages in Shane's hand. "What're those? What's on them?"

"Oh, just some 'imaginary' things." He gave him a tight smile. "But just choose your answer carefully, Bergara. Because there's one that'll make you look _very_ suspicious indeed."

Ryan blinked, straightening up in his chair. "I- I'd like to see whatever's on those pages before I answer."

"Mmm, that's a 'no' from me." Shane raised his eyebrows expectantly. "One word is all I need, Ryan. A yes or a no. Is she a client of yours?"

He hesitated, biting on his bottom lip. _Fuck fuck fuck_. What if Helen had blurted something out? What if those were Helen's accounts in Shane's hand? If Ryan went ahead and said he wasn't Helen's accountant while Shane was literally holding her accounts, then he'd look like a massive liar. Everything he'd previously denied would be dragged back into the spotlight. He'd be screwed.  _Madej, you sly bastard_. He wasn't sure which was more stressful; the silence, or Shane's gaze piercing him like a dart.

He finally spoke up, not taking his eyes from Shane's. "Yes. She's a client."

"Fantastic." Shane dropped the pages onto the table, showing them to be entirely blank. "I knew you two knew each other. I fucking knew it."

Ryan's eyes widened at the sight of the blank paper, his face frozen. "I- I-"

"Enough stuttering, Ryan. Let's move onto the fun stuff." Shane grinned eagerly, leaning forwards as he spoke. "Why were you lying about knowing Helen Pan? Why was she missing from the list you gave me? Is it because she owns the Gardner Museum? Or that she owns the property you and your team dug a nice big hole in?"

"We didn't do that," snapped Ryan, folding his arms on the table to almost mirror Shane. "We-"

"'We'? So you know the people I'm talking about? You know you have a 'team'?"

 _Well fuck_. "I don't- Well yeah. It's common sense, isn't it?"

"I don't know. Is it?" 

"Yes. Because I'm not an idiot." Ryan glared at him. "You've been poking around in mine, Kelsey's, and Steven's lives. I can put two and two together."

"But that's not the whole team, is it?" He was on a roll now, he could feel it. And he loved it. "How'd you knock out the CCTV, huh? Was it Adam?"

"I don't know an Adam," said Ryan through gritted teeth. "As I've said a hundred times already."

"Maybe try to not look so guilty then." Shane bit back a smirk. "Even though I do love seeing you squirm."

"You seem to think I'm guilty no matter what," said Ryan sharply, eyes narrowed. "Maybe it's because you're still harboring certain _feelings_ , hm?"

Shane's smile dropped. "Hey. No. _No_."

"Who's squirming now, huh?"

"I do not-" He glanced at the recorder, dropping his voice to a harsh whisper. "I do not still have fucking feelings about- about _you_ , or about anything that happened, or-"

"Well then why'd you run away?" hissed Ryan, the two of them simultaneously moving their chairs away from the recorder. "You just _vanished_. You didn't even tell me!"

"You're the one who didn't want labels! And if we weren't official then what was stopping me from doing what I wanted?"

"You know just as well as I do that we couldn't be a thing!" Ryan kept his voice low, but his anger was palpable. "You were a fucking cop, Shane! I was the exact opposite! There would've been uproar!"

"Well I didn't-" Shane threw his hands into the air, leaning away from the table. "This isn't the place or the time to talk about this shit, Ryan. I mean, really."

Ryan snorted, rolling his eyes. "Oh it's _never_ the right time for you. Shane Madej is a busy busy man, he can never just talk for five fucking minutes."

"What the hell are you hoping to get from this, huh? You want me to beg you for your forgiveness? Oh no, poor little Ryan got his feelings hurt?" He basically spat the last few words.

Ryan suddenly struck the table hard, pushing himself to his feet  "Fuck you, Shane. I'm not sitting through this bullshit, and I don't have to either. So you can go fuck yourself."

"Who's running away now, huh?" Shane stood up as the shorter man stormed out of the room, following him to the door. "Who's scared now, Ryan?"

"I'm not fucking scared!"

"Well you should be!" shouted Shane down the hall after him, ignoring the odd looks being thrown his way by the passing cops. "Because I'm gonna come down on you like a pile of bricks, Bergara! I'm gonna be the one to lock you away for the rest of your stupid life!"

Ryan paused, turning to point a vehement finger at him. "Fuck you!"

"Fuck _you!_ "

"Woah woah woah." Sara poked her head of the room across the way, giving Shane a confused look. "What's with all the yelling, dude?"

"Nothing." He watched with narrowed eyes as Ryan stormed off down the corridor. "Just stuff."

"Wh- Where the hell is he going?" Sara moved to stand beside Shane, waving a hand to get his attention. "Why the fuck is he leaving, Shane?"

"Well he wasn't officially under arrest!" Shane shrugged helplessly. "He could leave if he wanted to."

"And why did he want to, huh? Were you being an ass?"

"Me? Never." Shane gestured for her to follow him, moving back into the room he'd been questioning Ryan in only minutes ago. "But I did get him to admit that he and Helen know each other. She lied to us. That's enough for an official arrest on her part. I just need to get something more solid on Bergara."

"Why the hell are you so obsessed with him?" She gave him a suspicious look, squinting at him. "What's that about?"

"I'm not obsessed with him, Sara," replied Shane flatly, gathering up the pages on the table. "I'm just doing my job."

"Come on, Shane. You're not half as focused on Lim or Darragh."

"I am!" he insisted, eyebrows raised. "Speaking of which, did Darragh spill anything?"

"No, nothing useful." She walked beside him as they moved off down the corridor, towards the main office. "But holy fuck, she can just talk and talk and talk, but not _say_ anything. She just seems like your stereotypical dumb blonde, but that can't be right. There's something else to her."

"Mm. Keep an eye on her." He paused at TJ's desk, knocking on it to get his attention. "Hey, anything on this Adam guy?"

"Absolutely zilch." He rifled through a pile of paper on his desk, frowning as he did so. "But I did narrow down what he must do for them by looking at what they _don't_ do. Yeah, here it is."

Shane narrowed his eyes at the list. "Transfer the cash, disable security, allow contact under the radar, hide what needs to be hidden, alter footage... There's a lot of stuff here."

"He's the key, Shane!" TJ stood up to join him in frowning at the list, Sara doing the same. "We need to get him."

"We need to draw him into the open," said Sara, looking at them. "Get him out of whatever safe house he's in."

"Milan." Shane handed the page back to TJ, staring at nothing in particular as he thought. "He'll need to be with them if they're planning something. He wouldn't be able to do stuff in Italy all the way from America, could he?"

"No way." TJ grinned excitedly at him. "You think they're gonna try something?"

"I fucking hope so." Shane turned back to Sara, pausing for a moment. "Bring Darragh back in. Try and find out what they're gonna do in Milan, where they're gonna be. Try and narrow it down a bit, yeah?"

She nodded, already moving back to her desk, picking up the phone there.

"You think we're getting somewhere here?" asked TJ, sitting back down at his desk. "You think Milan could be it?"

"I think Milan has to be _something_ ," muttered Shane, continuing on to his office. "Something we can't miss, anyway."

* * *

_Milan, Italy, 24 hours later_.

Perhaps he felt a tiny bit bad. He knew she was rich, that was obvious. He'd sold her those paintings only a week ago, and one of them was Rembrandt's only known seascape to have ever been painted. That had cost a hefty few million alone. But Kelsey had made a point; Quinta never actually paid them for their _work_ , only for the art. Why shouldn't they just go to her magnificent mansion in the center of Milan, attend her lavish party, and steal a few priceless ornaments? She wouldn't dare report them, even if she ever _did_ notice. Ryan had encouraged Adam to stay in the back of the van amidst his gadgets and gizmos, which he had seemed perfectly happy to do. Kelsey was entertaining a group of guests, the rambunctious laughter audible even above the din of the rest of the party. Steven was probably trying to find Quinta's garage in an attempt to see what incredible cars she probably owned. And Ryan was actually allowing himself to relax as he wandered around the sprawling corridors of the mansion, a glass of some sinfully expensive champagne in hand. These were the jobs he liked the most. They could just pick up what they liked, pop it in the van throughout the night, and Adam would wipe the CCTV as they went. Nice and neat.

The music from the party downstairs sounded dull now, like he was underwater listening to it. He paused below the Rembrandt painting he'd stolen from the Gardner museum what felt like only yesterday. It was pretty, he supposed. Not $50 million pretty, but pretty.

"Admiring the artwork, hm?"

 _No way. No fucking way_. Ryan was surprised his glass didn't shatter in his hand as his entire body tensed at the sound of the voice. He turned his head, his eyes wide as his worst fears were confirmed.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" He blinked at the taller man, still numb with shock. " _How?_ " 

Shane smiled at him, all casual nonchalance, as if they really were just two strangers who met at a party. "Oh, it was pretty easy. Darragh spilled about this lovely event." His eyes looked over the painting on the wall like he actually gave a shit. "Your friend Brunson was very eager to keep her nice new paintings. She wasn't as eager to defend you and your little team, however."

Well fuck. Now he didn't feel even remotely bad about stealing her stuff. "So you're stalking me now, are you?"

"No, not at all."

"Memorized my calendar?"

"What I saw of it."

Ryan smiled dryly, lifting his glass to his mouth. "Subtle."

"And what does that mean, exactly?"

"Oh, nothing." He began moving down the cavernous marble hallway, seeing Shane right beside him as he did so. Their footsteps rang out as they wandered down the aisle of paintings, step for step. "It's ironic, I think. One day you're running away, and the next you can't seem to get enough of me."

"All circumstantial in the end, Ryan." 

"Meaning?"

"Think about it." His voice was lilting, as if telling a story to a five year old. "When I, uh, _ran away_ , as you put it, I did so because you'd become so inherently boring to me." He saw Ryan's jaw clench, heard him take a deep breath, the exhale of which trembled with anger. "But you've stepped up your game a bit since then, I think."

"You have no idea."

"Well, I have a bit of an idea."

"You really don't."

"Great. I hope you're right."

Ryan stopped walking, the taller man doing so a few steps after. "You're just so fucking confident, aren't you? All the fucking time."

Shane shrugged, hands in his pockets. "Well, I don't have any reason not to be."

"Oh, I'll give you a reason not to be," said Ryan darkly, taking a step towards him, noticing how Shane's hands dropped from his pockets at the threatening movement. "It'll be a hell of a lot harder to do your job when your entire face is broken."

"Just try it, Bergara." Shane didn't back away, his eyes pinned on the shorter man's. "See what happens."

A few long minutes passed, silent but for the echoing music from some faraway room. Ryan finally tore his gaze away, struggling to get himself to calm down, his glass shaking slightly in his hand. He wasn't going to let Shane provoke him into doing something reckless and stupid. He wasn't. He _wasn't_.

"C'mon, Ryan," said Shane almost fondly, in that soft voice he used to use just for him. The mocking edge to it was not a welcome change, however. "You used to like these games so much, didn't you? Very, _very_ much."

"Shut up."

"How did they usually end again?" Shane pretended to think, fingers resting across his mouth as he frowned at nothing in particular. "Something like your mouth and-"

The glass shattered on the floor as Ryan swung at him with everything he had, the punch catching him right across the face. Shane stumbled to his hands and knees, eyes squeezed shut as his vision swam dangerously. To be honest, he was impressed at the fact he'd managed to even stay conscious. The coppery taste of blood spread over his tongue as he stayed on all fours, head hanging. He spat it out, the blood starkly red against the white marble floor. 

"Well," he muttered, wiping the corner of his mouth with his thumb. He looked at the shiny blood smeared on it. "That'll definitely do."

Ryan was busy massaging his hand, although the exhilaration he got from the punch trumped any sore knuckles. "What'll do? What are you talking about now?"

"Oh, nothing. I just needed some motivation." He used the wall for balance as he got to his feet, straightening up fully. His jaw hurt like a bitch. "Because tonight's the night, baby."

"You think so?" said Ryan, wondering if he should just hit him again, really go at it this time. "What makes you so certain of that?"

"Because now I'm mad," said Shane icily, his face unnervingly emotionless. "Really mad."

"Am I supposed to be scared or something?"

"You would be if you weren't stupid." Shane stepped around him, coming to a halt a few steps down the hallway. He half-turned to raise an eyebrow at the shorter man. "Also, a van is a bit of a strange choice of transport, don't you think?"

Ryan stared at him in silence for a long moment. Then he simply shoved Shane aside, flying off down the corridor, going down the sweeping staircase at such a rate he was surprised he didn't just fall down them. His heart was racing almost as fast as he was. He had to get all of them out of there. He had to get Adam out of there. If they hadn't caught him already. Oh shit, if they'd caught him already they'd be positively fucked. Ryan pushed his way through the groups of people that rapidly grew into one giant swelling crowd, glancing back to the staircase to see that Shane had apparently vanished. The music was too loud, too aggressive. He needed to find Kelsey, he needed to find Lim.

He had just dialed her phone when Kelsey herself almost ran straight into him, a glass of champagne in both hands. She looked alarmed, her eyes wide as she downed one of the glasses.

"We need to go!" shouted Ryan over the booming music, glancing around again to see if Shane was anywhere nearby. "Now!"

"I know!" Kelsey drained her other glass, placing the two empty flutes on a passing waiter's tray. "I saw that curly-haired cop! She's lurking, Ry!"

"Find Steven!" He pushed at her to go, ignoring her almost offended scowl. "I'm going to get Adam away!"

"Oh fuck, I forgot about him!" She turned away, pulling her sweeping black dress up to her knees as she barreled through the crowd. "Move, motherfuckers!"

Ryan dialed Adam, finally making it through the crowd to one of the emptier halls. The door to the underground car lot was around somewhere, he knew it. "Ad- Adam, listen to me. If anyone knocks on the van, do _not_ open it, okay? Not unless you're absolutely positive it's me, or Kelsey, or Steven. Okay?"

"Mmhmm."

"And start the engine. I'm almost there."

"Steven's here."

"Already?!"

"Yeah."

"Is Kelsey there?" 

"No."

"Well fuck." He hung up, dialing her number again. She picked up after a few rings. "Kelsey, just go straight to the van. Now!"

"I haven't found Steven!" She sounded as if she had more champagne in her mouth.

"He's in the van." He ran across the packed car lot, weaving his way through the various expensive vehicles. "We're gonna head straight into the city and scramble. Got it?"

"Got it."

The van screeched up beside him, Steven kicking open the passenger door. "C'mon, dude! Hurry up! I think I saw Andrew Ilnyckyj."

"I don't know who that is, and I don't care." Ryan slammed the door closed, shrugging off his suit jacket. "Just go!"

"He's a cop, man! But he's this fucking amazing racer, I've seen him-"

"Later, Steven! Go!"

"Damn, alright." 

Kelsey scrambled into the van as it passed by, Steven not even slowing that much to pick her up. She rolled over the seats to land in the back beside the silent Adam, yanking her heels off and sticking on flats. "This is a hell of a party, boys! I love it."

"Scramble every fucking signal you can find, Adam. And every CCTV camera within twenty miles." Ryan watched the road behind for any sign of pursuit. It was suspiciously empty. _Where the hell are you, Madej?_ "And floor it, Steven, come on!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this chapter and the next chapter were meant to be one full chapter but then I didn't want it to be too long so I split 'em. But if ppl want the second half ill just post it because life's 2 short motherfucks


	4. Hungry Like The Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"Straddle the line in discord and rhyme_   
>  _I'm on the hunt down I'm after you,_   
>  _Mouth is alive with juices like wine_   
>  _And I'm hungry like the wolf."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yea so I fully intended on posting this on the same night i posted the last chapter but then I fell asleep and was out of the house all day so that backfired lmao

"Where's the damn CCTV?" Shane paced along behind the row of screens and keyboards, stopping behind TJ's rolling desk chair. The Italians had been kind enough to lend them an office in their main station, and it _would be_  more than enough, if only they could get the CCTV to stay on for more than two minutes at a time. "Where the hell is it? If they get away I'll kill you!"

"Jesus Christ, Shane, relax!" His fingers flew over the keyboard, the black screens flickering back to life, images of bustling roads and streets illuminating the large office. "There, I got it. They definitely have that tech guy with them, he's trying to block me."

"There's the van!" Sara pointed at it as it veered into view around a street corner. "Look, Darragh's getting out!"

"Tell every squad car to block them in. And tell Andrew to pick me up out front." Shane was pacing towards the door, shrugging off his coat and chucking it onto a chair as he passed by. "Adam is our priority. If he's in that van, we can't afford to lose it. This whole thing will have been for nothing."

"I can't get in contact with any of the cars!" TJ's chair rolled further down the keyboards, skidding to a halt in front of the one he needed. "The signals are all scrambled and- Fuck it." The CCTV had flickered black again. He began scooting his chair back up to the other screens, feeling a bit like a ping pong ball.

"Where are you going?" Sara followed Shane to the door, watching him pace down the corridor, rolling up his sleeves. "You're not going out into the field, are you?"

"Yes I am." He could see Andrew's car pull up onto the path just out the front, screeching to a halt. "Keep me updated on their movements. I'm not letting him- _them_ , I'm not letting _them_ get away."

"Shane, I think you're taking this a bit too personally," she said, hands on her hips as he continued to walk away. She knew he'd been talking to Bergara; he didn't get that bust lip from nowhere. "There's plenty of guys out there already. The place is swarming."

 _Yeah, but I want to be there to see the look on Ryan's stupid face when we catch them_. "Oh, no I'm not. I just think one of us should be out there."

"Then I'll go."

"Well I'm already kind of gone," he called over his shoulder as he vanished down the stairs. "So... Bye!"

He was in the car five minutes later, Andrew taking off into the streets at a speed most definitely over the limit. Shane turned up their radio, hearing just a faint buzzing, a dead signal.

"It's been going on and off for ages," said Andrew flatly. "It's driving me insane."

"C'mon, TJ," muttered Shane, distractedly rubbing a thumb over the dried cut on his lip. "C'mon."

"I'm back!" TJ sounded delighted with himself, his grin audible. "Right, take the next left. It looks like they're heading towards the river. And- oh fuck it, I've lost it again."

"The CCTV?"

"Yeah, and-" His voice suddenly cut off, replaced by the monotonous buzzing that was there a few minutes ago.

Shane shared a look with Andrew, an eyebrow raised. "You do racing or something, right?"

Andrew grinned, nodding. "Right."

* * *

 

Adam muttered a curse under his breath, the laptop screen shining off his glasses. “Stupid CCTV. I _just_ had it.”

“Well get it back!” Ryan stuck his head out the open window, the wind ruffling his hair as they sped down the main street, weaving through the cars. “I can hear sirens basically everywhere, Adam!”

“Yeah, but they don’t know where they’re going.” He smiled to himself. “I have it. CCTV.”

“And? Anything?”

“Nothing. We’re clear. We- Fuck. It’s gone.”

Steven adjusted the rear view mirror, eyes narrowing at the cop car swerving dangerously in and out of the traffic. “Well shit. I think we have a tail, guys, and they aren't playing around.”

Ryan closed his eyes, letting out a frustrated groan. “Right. Right, take the next left and just drop me off. Then go, okay? Get Adam out of here. And get rid of all the technology shit, okay?”

"But I have, like, all my good stuff!" Adam gave him a pleading look, eyes wide. "Maybe I could-"

"No room for 'maybe' here, Adam! You can buy new shit, okay?" 

He pouted. "Okay."

The van swung into one of the smaller side streets, barely squeezing in. "Hop out here, Ryan!"

Ryan basically tumbled out of the passenger door as the van rumbled over the cobblestones. He took off into the even smaller streets, undoing his bow tie, chucking it over his shoulder as he ran. He heard a car braking loudly, a door slamming, an engine revving up again.  _Well here we fucking go_. The people relaxing along the quaint outdoor restaurants gave him puzzled looks as he sped past in a blur, not even glancing back to see if he was being pursued. There was no point, really. Focus on what’s ahead, that’s what really mattered right now. 

He found himself delving further and further into the maze of increasingly picturesque alleys. Alone, thankfully. No sound of any cars, or any footsteps, no cameras either. He allowed himself to slow to a walk, hands on his hips as he panted for breath, looking up at the starry sky above. The cobblestone street he stood on was bathed in the warm yellow light from the various wrought iron lampposts, the breeze just as warm. Wow, Italy really was beautiful this time of year.

“Don’t move, you little dick.”

Ryan closed his eyes, shoulders slumped. “For fuck’s sake.”

“Yeah, that’s right.” Shane sounded just as breathless as he was, and showed himself to look it, too. His hair was positively windswept, doing its usual stunt of somehow defying gravity. “C’mon, hands up. I got you, you little bitch.”

As halfheartedly as he could possibly do it, Ryan raised his hands to shoulder height. “Now. Happy?”

“Ecstatic.” He moved forwards slowly, keeping the gun leveled at him. “You have two options here, Ryan. One: you come with me now, peacefully, and without whining about it. Two: you make me waste a bullet. Because the result of both options is you being publicly proclaimed guilty as fuck all across the US of A.”

Ryan stayed where he was, watching the taller man move towards him. “Or there’s a third option, where I kick your ass.”

“Uh, I have a gun. Right here. Literally in my hand.” He gave him a mock-pitiful smile. “So there is no third option this time, Ryan.”

“There is. If you allow it.”

Shane stared at him for a moment, an eyebrow raised. “You want to try and settle this the old-fashioned way, hm? A little villain versus hero.”

“Yeah. I do.”

“Well this isn’t a movie, pal. This is real life. So you’re going to come with me, or I’m going to pop a bullet right between your teeth.” He shrugged. “Also, if we did fight, I know I’d lose. I’m not an idiot.”

Ryan grinned at him. “Ah. Foiled again.”

“Yeah.” He took the cuffs from his belt as Ryan put his wrists out, still keeping the gun trained on him. “I’ll admit it, I’m a tad disappointed, Bergara. Thought you’d lead me on a merry chase, but here we are.”

“You followed me across two continents, Shane.” He sighed heavily as a cuff was slipped around one of his wrists. “I think that’s pretty-”

He suddenly kicked the taller man as hard as he could in the shin, the yelped curse that came from Shane’s mouth loud enough to shatter a glass. He swiped for the gun, missing by a hairsbreadth as Shane reflexively hopped on one leg, completely off-balance, falling flat on his back after a firm shove from the shorter man. Shane scrambled backwards as Ryan essentially fell on top of him, straddling him as he fought to wrench the gun from his grip. A round went off, making the two of them wince. Ryan managed to yank the gun away, the cartridge coming away in Shane’s hand. The detective flung the ammo across the street, Ryan throwing the now useless gun the opposite direction. He grabbed Shane by his tie to yank him up off the ground before punching him hard across the face. Shane barely had time to blink before another one hit him, twice as hard. He managed to sloppily block the next one, grunting as the impact jarred his whole arm. Then he had Ryan by the collar of his shirt, yanking him downwards as he pushed his hips up, swiftly flipping their positions. Ryan hit the ground hard, kicking out underneath him, the cobblestones digging into his back as he struggled.

“Don’t even  _try_ to hit me again, Ryan!” Shane had him by the wrists, fighting to push them together so he could finish cuffing them. “Do  _not_ give me reason to- Stop struggling, Ryan, I swear to fuck!”

“Then just-” Ryan let out a sharp curse as Shane suddenly just slammed his wrists to the ground above his head, painfully hard. “Oh, you better hope it’s your guys who find us first Madej, because I’m gonna-”

“Oh save it, Ryan.” He could feel Ryan’s breath hot on his face as he managed to slip the second cuff around his other wrist, pausing before dropping his gaze to look him right in the eye. “Did you miss this view, hm?”

“You’re the biggest mistake I ever made,” replied Ryan harshly. “How about that?”

“Ooh, that stings.” He smiled down at him, still breathing heavily from their scuffle. “Isn't this pretty much how it happened last time? You completely underestimated me, and then I, well, I won.”

"I suppose." Ryan smoothly hooked his cuffed wrists behind Shane’s neck, pulling him down so suddenly the taller man had to quickly place his hands on the ground to stop his face from bashing off Ryan’s. “But this time isn’t over yet, Madej.”

Shane frowned as he searched Ryan’s eyes, their faces inches apart. “Wait, what are you-”

The sound of running footsteps behind him made him freeze, eyes widening. Then Kelsey had the cloth pressed over his nose and mouth with such force it hurt. He tried to move backwards, grab at her, Ryan’s cuffs digging into the back of his neck as he fought to get out. He held his breath, one hand in Ryan’s face, the other reaching behind him to try and get her away. But no matter how much he refused to breath, he had to. One breath and his head was heavy. Two breaths and he was out like a light.

Ryan let out a grunt as Shane slumped forwards, the dead weight making it difficult for him to breathe. He shoved Shane’s limp body off to the side, giving him a hearty slap on the shoulder, before letting Kelsey help him to his feet. He let her pick the cuffs with one of her bobby pins, remaining where he was as she hurried off.

“Ryan, come on!” she hissed, gesturing at him to follow. “Steven said he dropped Adam off at a park, but the place is still fucking swarming.”

“Just-" He hesitated, looking back at where Shane was, uh, napping. "Just let me do something.” 

She bit her lip, glancing down the alley. “How long will it take?”

“Ten minutes. I promise. I’ll meet you guys back at the apartment.”

“Right. Okay.” She gave him a long look. "Don't start taking all this too personally, Ryan. You know that's how mistakes get made."

"I'm not!" he lied, turning away. "I'm just... taking precautions."

* * *

Shane blinked slowly. Jesus, what the hell was wrong with him? He felt like he’d been entirely dunked in tar. He could feel the cold iron of the lamppost digging into his back, the light stretching out before him. He must’ve only been out twenty minutes or so; it was still dark. He went to stand up, frowning as his arms wouldn’t cooperate.

“Ryan, you son of a fucking bitch.” The cuffs dug into his wrists as he pulled again, knowing it was no use. “Oh, you little fucking-”

“It’s more polite if you look at someone when you talk to them.”

Ryan wandered into view, hands on his hips. He mustn’t have left; he still looked scruffy, his dark hair mussed, his shirt rumpled and stained. Shane could barely breathe he was so enraged, fists clenched behind the lamppost. 

“You really thought you had me, didn’t you? You were so pleased with yourself." Ryan smiled at him, a nice big bright one. "This feels good, Madej. I can see why you love running your mouth so much now."

"Mm." Shane gave him an unimpressed look, an eyebrow ever so slightly arched. “I never put you down as one to gloat, Bergara. But go on. Fuel my hate-fire.”

Ryan crouched down in front of him, his face suddenly serious. “I’m not one to gloat. Not usually. But you’ve pissed me off, Shane.”

“Oh no, I _never_ intended to do that. How will I ever forgive myself?” His voice dripped with sarcasm, making Ryan's eyes narrow. "I can't believe I've done such a thing! Oh, forgive me Father for I have sinned this day!"

Ryan glared at him for a moment in silence. "Shut the fuck up." 

Shane grinned back at him, resting his head back against the lamppost, legs crossed, as casually as if he was meant to be there. “C'mon, Ry. I'm just showing you how it's done. I...” His voice trailed off as he saw his gun in Ryan’s hand, the bullet cartridge back in place. 

“What were you saying?” asked Ryan innocently, the weapon clicking as he nonchalantly lifted it up. “No wise-cracks, no? No hilarious one-liners for me?”

Shane swallowed as the cold metal pressed into his skin, just under his chin. He didn't take his eyes from Ryan's, trying to hide his shaky breath. It was a wonder the guy couldn't hear his heart thumping in his chest. Fuck. Would he actually do it? Shane wasn't sure what _he'd_ do if their current roles were reversed. “…You won’t do it.”

Ryan was silent for a long few seconds. “Unfortunately, you’re right. You’re lucky you didn’t wake up fifteen minutes ago. I was angry enough then. But I’ve had some time to calm down.” He flicked the safety on, not taking his eyes from Shane’s as he slipped an arm around his waist to shove the weapon back into his belt. “Hopefully you won’t be sitting here for much longer. Or maybe you will. I don’t care, really.”

Shane gritted his teeth as Ryan stood up, pushing himself to his feet as well with just a bit of effort. “So you’re going to just leave me here, are you?”

“Yeah. I am.”

Shane smiled bitterly at him. “Stone cold, Ryan.”

“It doesn’t feel good, does it?” Ryan returned the dry smile, arms folded across his chest. “I suppose this could be considered a sort of symbolic revenge, in a way.”

“So that’s what this is about, hm?” Shane sighed wearily, leaning back against the lamppost. “I should’ve guessed.”

“You’re the one whose made this whole thing personal," shrugged Ryan. "I didn’t want it to be some sort of- of _grudge match_ , but here we are.”

“Well you better watch your step then, Ryan." He gave him a tight smile. "Because I’m not the sort of guy who’s really satisfied by symbolic revenge. I prefer actual, solid revenge.”

Ryan paused a few meters down the alley, giving him a flat look. “Is that so?”

“It's very much so.” He bit back a smirk, raising his eyebrows at him. “I guess it could almost be considered a bit of a turn-on for me, Ryan.”

Ryan gave him a lingering look as he turned away. “Idiot.”

"See you very soon, Bergara."

"Can't wait."

He waited a few seconds before calling after him. "I hope you're not paying too much for that apartment here!"

Ryan came to a sudden halt, half-turning to give him a puzzled look. "Huh?"

"Oh, nothing. I just wouldn't say the owner would appreciate the fact that their apartment has been turned upside-down and inside-out." Ryan's wide eyes were evident even from this distance. Shane kept his voice light, nonchalant. "But on the other hand, _I_ appreciated it. A lot."

The panic was palpable. Ryan vanished around the corner at a rate of knots. And Shane sat back down, settling in for what hopefully wouldn't be too long of a wait. Italy wasn't the worst place to be tied to a lamppost, anyway.


	5. Gimme Some Lovin'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"Well, I feel so good, everything's getting high,_   
>  _You better take it easy 'cause the place is on fire,_   
>  _Been a hard day, nothing went too good,_   
>  _Now I'm gonna relax, buddy, everybody should."_

The apartment was a complete mess. It had been trashed entirely. It was as if a whole zoo had been herded in and set free. The glass crunched under Ryan's feet as he moved into the sitting room, his breathing low, and oddly strained. No police search left this much of a mess, not unless specifically told to. And he had no doubt that a certain someone had given those orders. He could already picture the blasé attitude of the detective as he gave the green light to just rip the place apart. Ryan leaned against the wall for a moment to try and get his breathing under control, his heart, his thoughts. Kelsey mustn't have made it back to the apartment, or she had and then scarpered. The last he'd heard from Steven he was throwing Adam's tech gear into the river. Shane had had the whole area crawling with cops, all ready to go at the slightest signal from him. Ryan probably would've been fine if he'd just stayed in Quinta's, acted casual, but he'd let Shane get to him, he _always_ let Shane get to him. 

"Fuck!" He sat down against the wall, head buried in his hands. "Fucking fuck."

Madej must have them. He must have Kelsey, he must have Steven, and that meant he must have Adam. Ryan took a deep, trembling breath, staring straight ahead. He had no other option now but to go down to the station. Shane had played him like a damn fiddle, but he'd been playing nice so far. Ryan almost regretted taking the time to taunt him. Almost. Because Shane was not the type of guy who dealt with humiliation well, and now he'd be at his worst. And the last time Ryan had seen him at his worst it had ended in flames. But not just a little flickering fire; it had been on the atomic bomb level. And then Shane had just disappeared. Completely ghosted him. _Asshole_.

He took out his phone, dialing a number. "Hey, Helen. Mm, it's me. No, everything's not okay. I need you to do me a massive favor, okay?"

* * *

"So he's just not talking?" Shane still looked disgruntled from being found tied up to a lamppost, but at least it had been her who'd found him, and not some crazy psychopath. "Just make him talk!"

"He's the most silent guy I've ever met in my entire life!" Sara shrugged helplessly. "He won't even say 'no comment'."

"I need him to talk," said Shane in a dangerously quiet voice, turning to face her directly. "I don't care how. Make Adam talk. Understand?"

She blinked at him. "Wait, what?"

"We have 24 hours, Sara. And we're on hour three." He took a deep, calming breath, eyes closed. "If he walks out of here, if _any_ of them walk out of here innocent, I'll probably throw myself off the top of this building."

"Jesus, dude. Okay." She backed out of the door, giving him a concerned look. "I'll try harder."

He turned away, hands on his hips, glancing at the clock on the wall. _Come on, Ryan. Where are you?_ They had 24 hours to get a confession from even just one of them, and so far it was impossible. They were stupidly loyal to Bergara, and each other, refusing to utter even a bad word about any of them. Even the two who never shut their mouths suddenly wouldn't open them. Really, they were just lucky Adam had been found with a ridiculously expensive scrambler in his pocket, or they wouldn't have had any reason to bring him in at all. The clock ticked away, every second a waste. He needed one of them to slip up. More specifically, he needed Ryan.  _Come on, what's taking you so long?_

Ten minutes later and he finally turned up. Shane heard the guy before he saw him, the loud commotion unmissable.

"You can't question them without lawyers!" Ryan was striding down the corridor, TJ trying to get him to slow down, and failing miserably. "You can't just drag them in here for no reason. I want to talk to your stupid boss. C'mon, where the fuck is Madej?"

Shane straightened up, moving to stand in the doorway, in full view of the ball of rage that was Ryan Bergara coming at him. "Morning."

"Morning?!" Ryan had to concentrate on restraining himself from socking the detective right in the face. "You have no reason to have Kelsey and Steven in here. They were-"

"I never said I had Kelsey and Steven," replied Shane lightly. It was time to mess this fucker around, right on schedule. "Only Adam."

"Then where the hell are they?"

"It's not important."

Ryan squinted at him, puzzled. "What the fuck does that mean?"

"They're just not here, okay?" He gestured at TJ to scarper, moving out into the silent hallway to fully confront the shorter man. "Now, why don't-"

"Where are they, Shane?" Ryan finally seemed to be getting what he was implying. "Are they hurt?"

"As I said," replied Shane flippantly. "They're just not with us right now."

Ryan swallowed, searching the taller man's eyes. "What are you trying to say? What did you do, Shane?"

"Listen, Ry. There was a line, and you crossed it." He shrugged. "What I do from here on out is your fault, really." 

"If you've hurt them even the tiniest bit, I'll fucking kill you."

Shane whistled through his teeth, raising an eyebrow at him. "Watch yourself now, Ryan. We're not on your turf anymore. We're on mine."

Ryan followed him down the corridor, glaring at the back of his head. "Don't walk away from me, Madej. I'm still talking to you."

"Oh, are you?" He paused outside an empty interrogation room, hands in his pockets as he slowly turned to look down at him. "Do you expect me to care or something?"

"I don't expect _anything_ from you anymore," replied Ryan icily, seeing the irritation flicker across Shane's face. "You're just full of disappointment, and I learnt that the hard way."

"Mm. Alright." He watched his face closely, Ryan watching right back. "You know, I never really got your whole stance on us, Bergara. You constantly gave me mixed signals, and then got annoyed when I didn't understand them. So if I ever, uh, _disappointed_ you, you have yourself to blame."

"Don't even try and fuck me around, Shane. You were a complete ass, the entire time we were-"

"Together?" Shane smiled an icy smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "You can't say that, remember? Because we weren't together."

"You keep using that against me as if it was _my_ fault we were who we were," said Ryan heatedly, fists clenched by his sides. "And even though we were a giant, stupid mistake, you played your part in it by even pursuing it in the first place!"

Shane could feel himself getting more and more angry the longer he looked at the shorter man. "Sometimes I just- I just want to fucking strangle you. I guess certain feelings don't disappear with time."

"Is it because I'm right?" shot back Ryan, taking a step closer, so close their faces were inches apart. "That used to annoy you _so much_ , didn't it? You just couldn't stand it when you were wrong."

"I wouldn't know. I'm never wrong."

Ryan took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, the small smirk that flitted across Shane's mouth making his teeth clench. "You're just so funny, aren't you. You were always so fucking funny."

Shane looked down at him from under heavy lids, biting back his smile. "I always thought you enjoyed my sense of humor."

"I tolerated it. But I didn't miss it when it was gone."

"You didn't miss me at all, no?"

Ryan refused to look away, not liking the almost hungry look in the taller man's eyes. He knew that look. He knew it well. "No."

"Not even a little bit?"

"Not even a little bit," replied Ryan firmly, trying to ignore how fast his heart was beating. "And I think I've had enough of this conversation." _Because if it continues, there's only one way it'll end._

"Actually, you might be right." Shane gave him a tight smile, nodding at the empty interrogation room beside them. “But you know what? Now that you’re here, why don’t you take a seat.” 

“I don’t want to take a seat, you ass.” 

He scowled down at him. “Take a fucking seat, Ryan.” 

Ryan stepped forwards, jabbing a finger into his chest. “Oh, I’ll take that seat and shove it down your-” 

Shane promptly grabbed the wrist of the offending finger, holding it tightly. “Watch it, Bergara. I'm warning you.” 

Ryan glared at him for a long moment before wrenching his hand away. “You searched our apartment without a warrant.” 

“Yeah, I did." There was no smirking, no teasing. It was almost unnerving to see the lack of expression on Shane's face, just an icy bitterness there instead. "A quick knock and talk did the trick, though.” 

“What?” 

“Oh, Lim and Darragh were _very_ chatty, apparently." His voice was cold, clipped. It was as if he'd flipped a switch, and gone from laughing Shane to terrifying Shane, just like that. "Accidentally gave my guys an invitation to search the place. If only they took after your other friend in there, and learned when to shut the fuck up. You seem to have that problem too.” 

Ryan ignored the barbed comment, fists clenched by his sides. “Adam gets a lawyer. He gets a fucking lawyer.” 

“He’s not getting a lawyer, Ryan!" replied Shane almost exasperatedly. "Stop trying to get him a lawyer!” 

“That’s illegal! You’re doing  _two_ illegal things!” 

“Oh, they’re not illegal." He shrugged nonchalantly. "They’re skimming the line, I’ll admit, but they’re just within it.” 

“You’re meant to be a cop, right? As in, you’re meant to give a fuck about the law.” 

“Yeah, and I used to. But then, well, you made all this very  _personal_." He was clearly still very salty about the lamppost incident, and he wasn't trying to hide it, either. "And I didn’t like that at all. And when I don’t like something, I get rid of it. Doesn’t matter what. Things, feelings…” He raised an eyebrow at him. “People.”

Ryan gritted his teeth in irritation. “You’re a real piece of work, aren’t you?”

“Oh don’t get mad," he said, very patronizingly indeed. "You brought this on yourself.”

“I’m- You can’t just _do_ this shit, Shane! Play fair!” 

“Oh I’m not playing at all, Ryan,” he replied quietly. "Now you either voluntarily go into that room right now, or I fucking drag you in. Your choice."

Ryan's answer was instant. “Fuck you, Madej!” 

For a second, he thought Shane was actually going to hit him. He took a step back into the room as Shane took one forwards, moving in unison, eyes still locked. The detective tilted his head back, looking down his nose at the shorter man, a look of clear contempt on his face. That was a look he had always been a master of.

“I think you’re being very hostile right now, Ryan. I feel threatened.” He took the cuffs from his belt, casually swinging them around as he moved further into the room, the table screeching slightly as Ryan bumped back against it. "And since you seem to be such a, uh, fan of the law, I'm sure you're aware that I'm now allowed to formally arrest you."

"You put a hand on me and I'll break it."

"Those sound like fighting words, Bergara." He gave him a barely-pitying smile, like he was looking at some injured animal he had no interest in helping. "C'mon, Ry. Don't embarrass yourself here."

"Stop calling me that," replied Ryan through gritted teeth.

"What? Ry?" He gave a halfhearted laugh, almost just a sigh. "You used to like that, didn't you?"

"Don't." He could feel hot tears in his eyes, whether from anger or not, he wasn't sure. "Shut up."

"Are you going to cry, Bergara? Really." Shane raised his eyebrows at him; the shorter man was breathing so heavily his shoulders were rising and falling with each breath. "Is it because you've lost? Or is it because I never said sorry about what I did to you, and I never will?"

This seemed to do it. Ryan simply snapped, throwing a hard right hook straight across Shane's face, the detective stumbling backwards to one knee with a loud curse. He cupped his nose, glaring up at Ryan, who simply stared. He got to his feet, shrugging off his jacket, throwing it aside as he pushed his sleeves up to his elbows. Ryan circled him, breathing heavily, just waiting to strike again. Shane watched him, not moving from the doorway.

"C'mon, Ry," he said thickly, wiping the warm blood from his nose with the back of his hand. "You can do better."

"Shut up." 

"You also just assaulted an officer of the law." He smiled at him. "Which means I should probably defend myself, right?"

"Enough with the talking, Shane." He was already closing the space between them, fists clenched and ready to go. "I've had enough of that to last me for the rest of my fucking life."

"So aggressive. I love it."

The next punch would've been just as hard as the first, if it had landed. Shane simply stepped out of the way, stepping forwards again just as quickly to grab Ryan by the collar of his shirt and headbutt him right on the bridge of his nose. Ryan yelped a curse as Shane staggered backwards, the shorter man stumbling against the table, blinded by the explosion of pain in his nose. 

"You dick!"

Shane grinned at him, pointing at his own bloodied nose. "Hey. Now we match."

"Jesus fucking Christ, I hate you."

* * *

 

The kitchen was around here somewhere, she knew it was. The Italians had a nice enough setup here, but damn, what was with all the winding corridors? Sara paused at the sound of some piece of furniture falling over, just a few rooms ahead. Holy fuck, who the hell was down here? Was it some sort of crazy criminal guy who got out and was now trashing the place? She slipped her gun from her belt, holding it ready as she moved down towards the source of the commotion.

The door to one of the rooms burst open, and like a six-foot-four whirlwind, Shane came reeling out into the hallway, Ryan on his back with an arm tight around his neck. They stumbled against the wall, Shane struggling to keep his balance as Ryan hooked his legs around his waist, stuck to him like a _very_ angry koala. They seemed oblivious to her presence as they continued shouting at each other, Shane reaching behind him to try and get a firm hold on the shorter man, staggering against the wall.

"Sara, shoot hi-" Shane's order was quickly cut off as Ryan's arm tightened around his neck, a hand clamped across his mouth. 

"Ryan Bergara, get off him!" she shouted, finding it impossible to even get a steady aim as Shane pushed himself backwards, Ryan cursing as he was struck against the wall. "Shane, stop it, for God's sake!"

The detective ignored her, finally getting a tight grip on Ryan's shirt, pulling him forwards and over his shoulder. Ryan landed heavily on his back, quickly rolling onto one knee. He looked ready to pounce as Shane moved towards him, the two of them equally scruffed up. Sara swapped weapons, running forwards. 

"Ah, for fuck's sake, Rubin!" Shane fell against the wall as he hugged his side, eyes wide. "Did you just taze me?!"

"I'll do it again!" she shouted, turning to point it at the now-terrified looking Ryan. "I swear to God, I'll taze the fuck out of you."

"Jesus, okay!" He stayed on one knee, hands raised. "Please don't."

"You can't taze your lead detective, Rubin!" Shane rounded on her, swiftly backing up as she let the tazer buzz ominously. "Look, relax a moment."

"I should relax?!" She shook her head in disbelief. "No. No, I am acting entirely rationally. And we need to talk." She turned back to Ryan, tazer out. "And you're under arrest for assaulting a police officer."

"What?! No, he provoked m- Stop buzzing that thing at me!" He got to his feet, sharing a dark look with Shane. "You ass. You did this on purpose."

"Go into the interrogation room," said Sara sternly before the two of them could start again. "Someone will be with you shortly. And Shane, you stay out here with me. I need to ask you something."

He waited until Ryan had reluctantly gone back into the room, closing the door behind him. Then he waited some more, avoiding Sara's intense gaze.

"Did you guys fuck?"

"I- What?!" He was speechless for a long moment, eyes wide. "We- No. No!"

"Did you ever do anything together?"

"No," he lied, glaring at her. "I- We just have a bit of history."

"Sexual?"

"Jesus- No, Sara! Why are you so insistent on that?"

"Because that's not just average beef," she said firmly, hands on her hips. "That's some beef that's been in the pot for a _long_ time, stewing away, and now it's being brought to boil, but it's starting to bubble over and you need to put a lid on it!"

"Nice metaphor, still bullshit."

"Are you sure?" She gave him a suspicious once-over. "Because whatever the hell is or has gone on between you two, it's not funny. It's going to jeopradize our whole operation here."

He moved to the door, waiting a minute before suddenly hitting it hard.

"Ow! What the hell, Shane?!"

"Stop being a nosy fuck, Ryan."

"Whatever. I'm bored."

Shane rolled his eyes, moving further down the corridor with Sara, voice lowered to a whisper. "Look, we... Jesus, I can believe I'm actually telling you this." He bit his lip for a few seconds, avoiding her eyes. "We hooked up. Once."

"Once?" she repeated doubtfully.

He paused. "A few times."

"How many?"

 _A hell of a lot_. "That's not important."

Her face betrayed no immediate thought to the revelation. "Was it serious?"

"...I don't know."

"How do you not know?"

"It was difficult, Sara," he replied defensively. "Our whole situation was a bit risky. And it just didn't end well. That's it."

"Right." It was clear she wasn't going to get much else out of him, not now anyway. "Well I think you should sit this one out. Me and TJ will question him."

"But-"

"Shane." She gave him a serious look. "Come on."

He felt like throwing a damn tantrum, scowling at her like a moody child. "Alright. Fine. I won't question Bergara."

"Good. I'll see you in half an hour or so."

"Yeah, whatever." He was already stalking off down the corridor, throwing a disapproving look over his shoulder at her. "Don't taze me ever again, by the way."

"Don't give me reason to!" She gestured at her own face. "Also, you need to clean up your nose. And the corner of your mouth. Blood isn't really in this season."

"Yeah, yeah. Hilarious." His thoughts were already wandering, however.

He wasn't letting Bergara walk out of this building, no matter what the results of the questioning. He had a whole twenty four hours to play with here. He had plenty of time to pin Ryan for _something_. 

Or so he had thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> re-reading this I noticed "take a fucking seat, ryan" is the same rhythm as "take a fucking sip, babes" and honestly?? Mood


	6. Keep On Runnin'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"Keep on running, keep on hiding,_   
>  _One fine day I'm gonna be the one_   
>  _To make you understand,_   
>  _Oh, yeah, I'm gonna be your man."_

Ryan studied his own reflection in the dull surface of the burnished metal table. They'd given him some tissues to wipe away the blood on his face, apologized for detective Madej's actions, it wouldn't happen again, blah blah blah. Two black eyes were already beginning to form, and they wouldn't be wiped away with a tissue. He didn't mind them. They were a stark reminder of what Shane had done to him, and what he might still do. 

"So you don't know Mr Bianchi?"

Ryan glanced up to look at the curly-haired woman talking. "As I've already said a hundred times, no. I don't know him."

She shared a weary look with the bearded man next to her, who just rolled his eyes. The girl seemed alright, pretty friendly actually. The guy seemed like a bit of a tool. 'TJ', the girl had called him. He'd seen this TJ a few times, always lurking nearby, or chatting with Shane. Yeah, he probably got along with Shane very well. They were both incredibly annoying. Ryan frowned as he felt a sharp pang of something very unwelcome indeed. _What the fuck, Ryan? Why the hell are you jealous?_  God, he wished he knew what time it was. He must've been in here a few hours by now. That was plenty of time for Helen to do what he'd asked.

"So even though he was on the same plane as you," continued TJ flatly. "And was renting the apartment with you, you don't know him?"

Ryan gave him a sharp scowl. "There were also a hundred other people on that flight. Do you expect me to be best friends with all them, too?"

"And the apartment?"

"I don't know. It was an Airbnb." Ryan sighed heavily. "Are we really going to go through this again?"

The sound of loud and impatient footsteps grew louder, rapidly getting closer to their door. Shane burst in so suddenly the door banged off the wall, making the three of them jump in shock. He crossed the room to them, slamming the piece of paper in his hand down on the table, his eyes fixed on Ryan. He was positively seething with rage. For a minute, he seemed too angry to even speak. Sara and TJ watched him warily. Ryan leaned back in his chair, arms folded, simply holding his gaze.

"How?" the detective finally uttered, shoving the sheet of paper at him. It was covered in writing, but the headline was all they needed to read.  _Daring Heist in LA Bank Continues Chain of Robberies_. "How the hell did you fucking do this?"

"How did I do what?" Ryan finally pretended to read the report, his eyes widening in the most insincere surprised expression he could muster. "Oh dear. That's a pity."

"How the _fuck_ did you do it, Ryan?"

"Wait, you think I did that?" He raised his eyebrows at him. "You think I managed to coordinate a heist in LA from a police station in Italy?"

Shane basically threw the report at him, breathing heavily as he leaned across the table to look him right in the eye. "I know it was you, you little fuck. I know it."

"Shane, relax!" Sara was on her feet, seeing TJ do the same. Shane didn't even glance at her. "Dude, seriously."

"No. No, this is bullshit." He lunged forwards, grabbing Ryan by the front of his shirt, yanking him forwards against the table. "Tell me who did it for you! Tell me!"

Ryan roughly shoved him away, the curly-haired cop jumping in between them, arms out to either side. Shane had his fists clenched by his sides, eyes sparking with anger. 

"TJ, go get help," ordered Sara, hoping to God she wouldn't be torn apart in her attempt to keep these two away from each other's throats. "Quick."

"There's no point," said Ryan coldly. "I'll be leaving now, anyway."

"No, no." Shane pointed a trembling finger at him over Sara's shoulder. "No, you're not leaving. You can't."

"Well, I'm in here because you guys think I'm doing some crazy string of heists," said Ryan casually, still walking towards the door. "And if there's a chance it's not me doing them..."

"Don't walk out that door." Shane mirrored him, Sara staying between the two. "Ryan, do not walk out that door."

"I don't see why I can't." He smiled. "As I've already explained, I'm just an accountant on vacation with two friends and one coincidental stranger. Nothing else to it." 

Shane couldn't seem to move. It was a strange feeling; he was burning with rage yet frozen because of it. He managed to snap himself out of it, following Ryan into the hall, hearing Sara and TJ swiftly following. 

"No. No, I'm not watching you walk out of here."

Ryan came to a leisurely halt at the sound of Shane's voice, turning to face the taller man. "Then close your eyes, I guess."

“You can’t leave, Ryan!” He moved around him, blocking his way out, looking the most panicked Ryan had ever seen him. "You- You can still be detained for up to twenty-four hours!"

"Only if you have reasonable suspicion to keep me here." Ryan paused at the door, raising an eyebrow at him. "So what are your reasonable suspicions, hm?"

Shane stared at him, mouth open as if about to speak. He closed it, throwing an almost pleading look at Sara and TJ, to give him something, _anything_. Everything they had was shadowed in doubt if there was even the slightest possibility it wasn't Bergara and his team doing the heists. He finally opted for a fuming silence, his breath shaking he was so angry.

"Yeah," said Ryan quietly, a smile slowly spreading across his face. "That's what I thought. Now, excuse me."

Shane placed a hand on his chest as he tried to pass, impulsively, as if Ryan walking out that door innocent would literally kill him. He couldn't bring himself to look at the shorter man, instead looking at the space over Ryan’s shoulder. But he could feel Ryan looking straight at him, a big grin on his face.

“I’m going to tell you this once, Ryan," muttered Shane, keeping his voice low, aware that TJ and Sara were just a few feet away. "If you stay here and just confess, that’ll be that. But if you walk out of this building, I will come after you with everything I have.” He felt Ryan about to move, pushing his hand more firmly against his chest to keep him still. “I won’t be fucking around anymore, Ryan. I’m warning you.”

Ryan took the hand off his chest, simply holding it away for a few long seconds, out of sight of the others. “Try not to seem so desperate, Shane. It’s not a good look.” 

“Neither are two shiners,” replies Shane coolly, giving him a small smile. “But I personally think they suit you very well.”

“Oh, do you?”

“Well, how could they not? You’re a very good-looking guy, Ryan.”  _Annoyingly so_.

Ryan dropped the hand, shaking his head with a sharp laugh. “You’re unbelievable.”

“I am," he replied darkly. "And you’d best remember that.” 

Ryan gave him a long, hard look before stepping around him and continuing on towards the exit. Shane grumpily followed him, standing in the doorway as he left, emitting the same mood as a dog who'd had his favorite chew toy rudely snatched from his mouth. God, he couldn't remember the last time he'd been so downright furious. Oh wait, he could. And funnily enough, Ryan had been involved that time as well. He saw the other man throw a glance at him over his shoulder as he vanished around the corner. _Oh, Ryan. If you were clever, you'd start running now._

Only minutes later the other three swanned out. Kelsey gave him a big wave. Steven gave him a cheery goodbye. Adam, the enigma himself, didn't say or do anything. But even though their departures were highly irritating, Ryan's had just taken the cake. He felt Sara join him, watching him closely.

"What's our next step, boss?" asked TJ, appearing at his other side. "That's not it, is it?"

"Fuck no that's not it." Shane realized he was picking at the dry cut on his lip, the one Ryan had gifted him at Brunson's. "They'll probably go home, ASAP. I want them followed, but Adam specifically. They'll probably organize a more under-the-radar form of transport, so be sharp, okay? This could be our chance to find Adam's safe-house."

"On it."

"And flight's home. The earliest ones you can."

"Yep. No prob."

Sara stayed where she was, not liking how Shane just stared down the road, gaze not quite focused on anything. The sun had just started to rise, peeking over the buildings with a dazzling glow. 

"I think we need to talk," said Sara quietly. "About Ryan."

* * *

"Screw our stuff." Ryan followed the other three onto the private jet Quinta had lent them as a sincere apology for ratting on them. He couldn't really blame her, to be honest. It was part of the business they were in. "We just need to get out of here."

Kelsey went straight to the mini-fridge, yanking it open. "Oh my God, it's stocked." She took out a bottle of wine, smiling. "Might as well get a bit lit, right?"

"Look, Quinta might have lied a little bit," shrugged Steven, accepting a glass of icy-cold white wine. "But this apology is so good, I kind of wish she'd lie more."

Adam had already taken up residence in the seat in the corner, glued to his iPad, headphones on. He took a glass too, giving a small smile in gratitude. Ryan refused, still watching the tarmac outside for any police cars in the distance. 

"Why are you so on edge, Ry? I-" She frowned at him. "Yikes. What's the face for?"

He realized he was glaring at her, quickly turning away. "Nothing. Nothing, just... don't call me that."

"What? Ry?"

"Yes! Ry! I don't like it."

"Since when?"

"Since a few hours ago," he muttered, closing over the door as he heard the engines start up. "Just don't call me it, okay? You can call me literally anything else."

There was a long, heavy silence. Steven and Kelsey shared a look, even Adam glanced over the top of his glasses for a peek at what was going on.

"You didn't mind it until that new detective started on the case," said Kelsey slowly.

"That's irrelevant, Kels. Drop it."

"And what happened to your eyes, man?" Steven squinted at him. "They're kind of bruised."

"I walked into a door," he snapped, finally sitting down, arms folded as he scowled out the window. "Now please. Drop it."

Another few moments of silence. It was Steven who spoke first this time.

"Do you know the new detective or something?"

"Are you guys serious?" Ryan sighed in exasperation. "I literally just asked you to drop it."

"You _do_ know him!" Kelsey grinned, leaning forwards. "C'mon. Spill."

"I'm not discussing that stuff with you."

"That 'stuff'?" She raised an eyebrow at Steven. "Well, I think that's code for sexual relationship."

Ryan could feel himself flushing, folding his arms tighter across his chest. "Shut up. I don't want to talk about it."

"Maybe you should tell us," piped up Adam from across the way; he had one headphone off, his dark eyes watching them. "I mean, if there's any reason we're in more danger than usual, maybe we should know."

Ryan glared at him. "Well, you really choose your times to speak, don't you?"

"He has a point," shrugged Steven, leaning forwards in his seat. "If this guy's after you with a vengeance, we should all be more careful, right?"

"Definitely," said Kelsey firmly. "I mean, we almost fucked up back there, Ryan. I wouldn't have gotten half as shitfaced at Brunson's if I knew we were in danger like that."

Ryan stayed quiet, eyes closed, lips pressed together in a firm line.

"C'mon, Ryan. This was the closest we've ever gotten to being caught." Steven gave him a concerned look. "What happened? Because that back there wasn't your average police chase. It was almost them after us, but it was more him after you."

"And what was with the lamppost thing?" asked Kelsey. "I mean, I didn't know you were like that. It was pretty harsh, dude."

"It's just-" Ryan took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. He finally opened his eyes, giving them all an almost embarrassed look. "Fine. Fine, I'll tell you. About me and- and him. But don't push me to tell you anything I don't want to, okay?"

* * *

 

They sat on the steps out the front of the station, Shane with a cup of tea in hand, Sara with a coffee. The sun was already heating the air and the stones, and since they had their guys waiting at the airport back home, Sara had encouraged Shane to just sit for a bit. Well, sit and talk. About a certain criminal.

Sara glanced at him, eyebrows raised. "So what _did_ happen between you guys?"

He shrugged awkwardly, looking very uncomfortable. "I really don't know if I should tell you, Sara. It's... not really coworker-type conversation."

"Look, I think I need to know," she replied firmly. "Because you're letting whatever pent-up emotions you have just spill forwards, and it's throwing us all off. I need to know what happened."

Shane didn't lift his gaze from his mug, simply sitting in a pensive silence, like a president faced with the dilemma of whether or not to reveal nuclear launch codes. "It was a while ago. About six years, maybe." _Six years five months exactly._

She waited for him to continue, seeing the reluctance on his face. "Yeah?"

"...I was assigned to question this guy, some petty thief. Who was Ryan, by the way." He paused, hesitating for a long moment. "Me and Ryan, it... it was just... boom. A spark. We just bounced off each other so easily, and then the flirting that might not have been flirting started, and, well, neither of us really hid the fact that we were pretty interested in each other. But if I knew back then what was going to happen I wouldn't have done anything about it." He looked almost ashamed, avoiding her eyes. "I was just stupid. I took a risk. And it's still backfiring to this day, really."

* * *

"And believe me, I knew it was going to be a disaster right from the beginning." Ryan rubbed his tired eyes as he spoke, as if even remembering what happened stressed him out. "I mean, we were on the exact opposite sides of the law. But I guess that's what kind of made it really exciting, you know?"

"And? How did it all really start?" grinned Kelsey, eager for more details. "C'mon."

He gave her a flat look. "Try not to be so encouraging, please. These aren't nice memories for me."

"Oh, right, yeah. Sorry." She raised her eyebrows. "But how _did_ it really start?"

"We... I was just passing by the station one night, and I saw him standing outside, and I just stopped to- to check if he even remembered me, really." Ryan was silent for a long moment. "And he did. And that was the first time we... we..."

"Fucked?"

"Shut up, Kelsey," he snapped, throwing her a scowl. "But yeah. Fine. It was the first time we fucked."

Steven's eyes widened. "Oooh, wow. Just like that? It just happened?"

"I'm not giving you any unnecessary details, dude. C'mon."

"Fine. But even just tell me where?"

He paused, looking a tiny bit ashamed. "The superintendent's office."

"No way!" Kelsey was smiling excitedly; all that was missing was a bucket of popcorn. "That must've been super hot since it was-"

"Don't finish whatever you're about to say," he muttered, glowering out the window at the sunny city below. "Anyway, I was kinda hoping that it would just... get rid of the tension, really. At that point I'd rather have been shot in the face than live with the tension a day longer."

* * *

"It didn't, however." Shane swilled his quickly-cooling tea around in its cup, staring into it. "It got worse. And better. Simultaneously. We kept just, well... hooking up. And it's all fun and games, really, until you begin to notice you literally can't stop. Once, we even did it in a cell Ryan was being kept in." And that had gotten intense extremely quickly, especially given the presence of handcuffs. _Yikes_.

She raised her eyebrows. "Did you... In the station? Like, a lot?"

Hm. Better not mention the Starbucks incident. He'd bumped into Ryan there, and five minutes later they'd been furiously making out in the bathroom. Just like that. He bit his lip at the memory, sighing heavily, wearily.

"Hello?" She tapped his arm. "You still there?"

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, it was in the station." He shrugged. "And it just continued on like that. For ages."

Sara watched his face closely, before speaking softly. "And how did it end, man?"

He shook his head in silence. "Badly. Very badly."

"How badly?"

"Like... imagine if the Cuban Missile Crisis didn't end peacefully." He raised his eyebrows at her. "That badly."

She waited for him to continue. "And? Anything in particular happen?"

 _Yeah. I was a massive jerk, but I'd do it again if I had to_. "It just crashed and burned, really. Nothing else."

* * *

"So were there, like, emotions involved and stuff?" asked Kelsey, trying to make him look at her. "Were you guys an item?"

He opened his mouth as if to say something, closed it, nodded, shook his head. Then he just closed his eyes, resting his head in his hand. "It just... got out of control a little bit. That's all."

"So-"

"I really don't want to talk about it anymore." He suddenly regretted agreeing to talk to them on a plane. He couldn't exactly just get up and leave. Unless he was _really_ desperate, and he was beginning to think he was.

"But how did it end?" asked Steven curiously. "It obviously wasn't good, right?"

"It-" He took a deep breath, sitting in silence for a few long seconds. "It was awful, to be honest. And I don't want to talk about it."

"But that's the most relevant part!" insisted Kelsey desperately, on her third glass of wine. "You have to tell us!"

Ryan swallowed, thinking back to the night before The End. "He left."

"He left you?"

"I guess."

"You guess?"

"He justleft." Ryan gave a bitter laugh, shaking his head. "Yeah. After about a year or so, he just left."

"What?" Steven frowned. "Like, you broke up?"

"In a way." Ryan shrugged, wishing he'd accepted the offered glass of wine. He could just have one now, he supposed. "He just disappeared. Didn't reply to my texts. Didn't call me back. Never came to get his stuff. And the next thing I heard, he'd transferred to Chicago."

" _Oooh_." Kelsey sucked air in through her teeth. "Fucking ouch, dude. Now I understand the lamppost thing."

"Mm." He swallowed, despite the sudden lump in his throat. "So yeah. That's it."

"But why did he do that?" asked Steven, frowning as he thought. "Or maybe it was just a spontaneous thing. But doing that after more than a _year_ , just on a whim?"

Well that was something Ryan _really_ did not want to discuss. "Yeah. Just on a whim."

Apart from all the arguments that had led up to it, always about the same stupid thing. And then the fighting, and the threatening, and the blaming, and the denying, and the one time it had gotten a bit _too_ physical, and not in a good way. Ryan still remembered the look on Shane's face after he'd hit him; fear, then humiliation, then seething hatred. Then it had just taken off, the two of them going at it, to such an extent the neighbors called around to see if someone had broken in and was trashing the place. Shane had shouted that everything was _fine_ , that they were _fine_ , just having a bit of a domestic. Ryan couldn't say anything, since the detective had his hands around his throat, pinning him to the floor. It had been terrifying, but it had been _something_. 

 

* * *

"The fighting started about a month before I left," said Shane quietly.

"A month?!" Sara blinked at him. "Why didn't you leave?"

"Because- Because I wasn't exactly a victim or anything." Neither of them had been. And when it had started getting sexual, that's when he knew things were going truly out of control. "I think we both thought it was just a rough patch. But..."

"But you got scared and left?"

"No. Not exactly." _I had just been ninety percent sure I was going insane_. "It was just... I got tired of the arguing and stuff. I needed a break. So I left."

He was pretty sure she knew he was leaving something out. But thankfully, she didn't pursue it. He didn't want to reveal the fact he'd been half the reason the fighting had even started. That same topic, he'd bring it up over and over again, even though he knew it drove Ryan up the wall. He just kept pushing and pushing, and when Ryan finally snapped he'd almost been relieved. They were bad for each other, the whole thing had grown increasingly poisonous. It was inevitable that something would give. Break. Blow up. 

"Well thanks for telling me," she said gently, finally getting him to look at her. "Because now I want to catch these fuckers just as badly as you do. So let's get going."

* * *

"Well, if I were you, I would've shot him right through the face when I had the chance," said Kelsey into the silence. "That must've been shit, Ryan."

He nodded, refusing to look at them. Perhaps he hadn't told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, but he also didn't have to. They'd heard all the necessary stuff. Sorta.

"I think we need a more detailed plan for our next heist, Ryan." Steven raised an eyebrow, and his glass with it. "Like how to catch that dickhead detective and teach him a lesson."

Kelsey grinned, sloppily clinking her glass off his. "Yessss. Yes, justice."

Ryan rolled his eyes. "That's just the wine talking. You won't mean it when you've sobered up."

But he'd been thinking about such a plan since Shane had wandered into his apartment those few days ago, and he was pretty sure he almost had it ready. Almost. He just needed to choose the right museum.

 


	7. A Little Less Conversation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"A little less conversation, a little more action, please,_   
>  _All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me,_   
>  _A little more bite and a little less bark,_   
>  _A little less fight and a little more spark,_   
>  _Close your mouth and open up your heart and, baby, satisfy me."_

_"If you bring that up again I'll flip! I mean it, Shane, don't say it!"_

_The taller man had ignored the warning, as he so frequently did. Shane seemed to get some sort of thrill out of their arguments, their fights. Ryan was reluctant to admit it, but he got a bit of a rush from them too. It was a bad sign, but they'd both ignored it, or pretended not to see it._

_"Oh, I'm so sorry, I forgot I'm not allowed to talk unless it's about something you want to talk about," snapped Shane, hands on his hips._

_"Oh shut up, Shane. You're annoying me."_

_"And you think you're a ray of fucking sunshine, do you?"_

_Ryan ignored him, turning back to the sink where he'd just started washing up. Shane didn't leave, just lingered in the edge of his vision, his irritation palpable._

_"What if I just say it, hm?" Shane leaned on the counter so that Ryan couldn't help but see his face. "Bring out the ol' forbidden word."_

_"Shane, stop." Ryan had stopped washing, the water running steadily into the sink as he glared at the taller man. "I mean it."_

_"Why are you so scared of it, huh? It's not like it's going to kill you to talk about it."_

_"Because you know just as well as I do that I can't-" He stopped himself from saying the word, seeing Shane's eyebrows raise. "Go away, Shane. I don't want you here tonight."_

_"You almost said it, Ryan. C'mon. Just spit it out."_

_Ryan stayed silent, already feeling his blood pressure rising at the prospect of the conversation that was once again about to explode in his face. "You know I can't- That we can't-"_

_Shane finished his sentence for him "Trust each other? Oh yeah, I just said it. I dropped the T-bomb, Ryan. Don't run and hide under the bed."_

_"I'm not scared of trusting you, Shane!" he shouted, finally giving up on even trying to get any of the washing up done. "I'm just not stupid either!"_

_"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"_

_"At the end of the day, you're still a cop. What do you expect me to do?" He turned away, crossing to the sitting room, his breathing shallow. "Spill all my most precious secrets? Give you my childhood diary, hm?"_

_"I expect you to know that while we're together you can trust me!" He sounded so sincere it hurt. "Come on, man."_

_"We're not together, Shane!"_

_The taller man blinked at him, looking quite taken aback. "What?"  
_

_"We're- We're just friends," replied Ryan, knowing just how ridiculous it sounded._

_"We're just friends?! Are you fucking serious?" Shane stared at him, eyes wide. "You're going to turn around after a damn year and try and say we're just friends?"_

_Ryan bit his lip, arms folded tightly across his chest."We can't be a thing, Shane. You know that."_

_"We can't be a thing because you just won't trust me," said Shane sharply, his fleeting moment of shock apparently over. Ryan flinched at the T word again. "Stop being a wimp, Ryan. We are a thing. And you can't deny that."_

_"We're not a thing, Shane! We're not together!" Ryan could feel himself getting more and more panicked, more and more enraged. "Because you're a fucking cop!"_

_Shane looked angrier than he'd ever seen him, his face frozen. "Oh, I'm the problem here, am I? The literal criminal doesn't have anything to do with it, huh? Listen to yourself, Ryan. You're being a fucking idiot." He stepped forwards, pushing a finger into the shorter man's chest hard enough to make him stumble back a step. "I'm not the one who has to change here, Ryan. It's you. You're the root cause of all our problems, don't you fucking see that?"_

_"That's bullshit," replied Ryan sharply, swiping his hand away. "Trust is a two-way street, Shane, and you definitely don't trust me."_

_"Well why should I?" The taller man moved forwards again, dangerously close. "If you're insisting that we aren't together, then that's that. But I don't want to be your fucking friend, okay? Because you're a stupid little fuck and I hate you."_

_Ryan swallowed, feeling like he'd literally just been stabbed in the heart. "You don't mean that."_

_"I think I most definitely do." He held the shorter man's gaze, blinking back hot tears. "Because if you don't think we're together, then why have we stayed together? Have you just been using me to keep the cops off your back?"_

_"Shane, stop it."_

_"Is that all I've been to you, is it? A get out of jail free card?"_

_Ryan glared up at him, taking an involuntary step back as Shane took another forwards. "And what have I been to you, huh? A walking ATM?"_

_Shane inhaled sharply, eyes narrowed. "Don't you dare."_

_"Well? Is that what I was?"_

_"You know what? No. You were a walking ATM I could fuck whenever I wanted."_

That was the first time Ryan had snapped. He couldn't even remember really doing it. He just remembered the pain in his knuckles, and Shane on the ground, spitting blood onto the carpet. Shane had looked up at him, and for a split second Ryan had wanted to get down beside him, hug him, tell him he didn't mean it, any of it. But Shane wasn't one to hang around, and before Ryan could even blink he was tackled backwards onto the coffee table, the glass breaking under the impact, Shane on top of him, absolutely livid. They'd rolled across the floor, locked together, Ryan pinning him down and simply laying into him, all previous thoughts of apology vanished. Shane had given just as good as he'd gotten, his voice barely panicked as he'd replied to the concerned neighbors who were entirely unaware that Ryan was pinned to other side of the door just in front of them with a hand around his neck, another clamped over his mouth. It had gotten worse and worse, rapidly. And the entire time Ryan had been so _angry_ , more than he'd ever been before. Even the thought of the emotion still frightened him.

"So you think he'll follow us?"

Ryan sat upright, out of his memories and into real time. "Uh, yeah. Definitely. He'll follow us."

"Are you sure?" Steven had left his calendar out on the table for the next 'surprise search' at his house - the intervals of which had gotten noticeably shorter since returning from Milan - with the word 'Vegas' written in nice big letters in the box tomorrow. "I mean, I just hope they saw it, dude."

"How could they have missed it?" Kelsey moved in from the hallway, giving them a wave hello. "Also, we got followed the entire way here, Ryan."

"It doesn't matter, really," said Steven with a shrug. "There's been a van parked up outside mine for the past week. They're not really making themselves subtle."

"Shane's not really one for subtlety," said Ryan dryly, scowling as yet another cop car cruised past outside. "He wants me- us, he wants us to know he's watching. He wants us to slip up."

"He's a god damn pain. How long were you together again?"

 _We weren't together_. "A year or so. I don't know. I'm done talking about that stuff, okay?" He took a deep breath, exhaling forcefully. "Let's just concentrate on this; if this goes smoothly, we'll be free of that entire group of idiots. And we might be a couple of million richer. Apparently there's some bank money being moved along a new train line, it's gonna be lightly guarded."

"Oh, what?" Kelsey grinned at him. "You sure? How'd you hear that?"

"From Habersberger and Reinacher."

Steven blinked. "Who?"

"Y'know, the two radio hosts. Keith and Chris." Ryan shrugged. "I went to college with them. They always said that if they heard something juicy, they'd pass it on."

"Well that's juicy as fuck." Kelsey clapped her hands together, all business. "But we can only get that if we get this over with first, right?"

"Right." Ryan lowered his voice, gesturing for the two of them to come closer. "I'll give you the basics now, yeah? Adam will send you a detailed plan later, under the radar. And no matter what happens, stick to your roles, okay? Because if I know Shane like I think I do, he'll want to get straight down to business once he touches ground in Vegas. There won't be any waiting around, so we only have a short amount of time to do this. Yeah?"

* * *

_He couldn't bring himself to turn around. He couldn't bring himself to look at the other man, sitting against the wall, cupping his nose as dark blood leaked from between his fingers. Shane instead chose to rinse his mouth out at the kitchen sink, the blood swirling through the water like red ink. He kept his back to Ryan. Neither of them spoke. It was always like this after an episode; just a passive, tentative silence. It hurt to breathe. Shane gingerly, subtly pressed along his ribs, wincing at the sharp pain. Definitely bruised. He heard Ryan sniff, a wet noise. Turning, he looked at the other man_   _, who paused with the end of his t-shirt pressed to his nose. Jesus, he'd have no clean shirts left at this rate._   _For a second, Shane wondered if he should apologize. But it wasn't him who'd started it this time, so why should he? It was Ryan who had brought up The Issue. The T-word. Shane moved towards the door, trying not to show just how much pain he was in._

_"I'm going out."_

_Ryan didn't reply. Just sat where he was, watching him leave, wary, like a beat dog ready to bite if need be. Oh, yes. Ever the poor victim was Ryan Bergara._

"Yo, Shane."

_Poor little Ryan fucking Bergara._

"Hello? You in there?"

Shane blinked himself out of the memory, immediately smiling at TJ. "Yeah. Yeah, what's up?"

"Apparently they're heading to Vegas tomorrow." TJ showed him the booked flights, the accommodation. "Staying for a few days. They booked separate flights and apartments this time. Must've learnt something from Milan, after all."

Shane nodded distractedly, throwing a glance over the sheets of paper as he continued making his coffee. "Mm. Yeah. We should go."

"...Yeah. We should." He frowned at him, a puzzled look. "Dude, you okay?"

"Yeah! I'm fine, man." He took a deep breath, smiling at him. "Just tired. You know how it is."

TJ nodded slowly. "Sure. Yeah. You just seem a bit... distracted since we came back."

 _Only because I'd been bottling everything up so damn well until Sara made me fucking talk about it_. "Get us to Vegas for tomorrow, yeah? Phone ahead, let the guys know we're coming. And keep tracking Adam, okay? He could slip away at any minute if we don't have constant visual." He started crossing the small kitchen towards the offices. "I want every single one of their movements recorded. Any contact between them, any codes, anything at all, I want to know." He suddenly turned to look at him, face serious, his voice low and clipped. "I don't want a single word to pass between them without us knowing. I don't want any of them to set foot outside their homes without us knowing. And if any of them spread a little story about the detective who was tied to a lamppost for three fucking hours, I want to know. I want to know who they told. I want to know why they told them. Because they clearly have more friends than we previously thought, and it's about time we start taking those friends away."

TJ nodded quickly, swallowing. "Damn, Shane. That escalated quickly."

He didn't smile. "And get me Nellis. I have a favor to ask." He paused as he turned away, raising a thoughtful eyebrow. "And get me Amtrak's CEO after that. I'll need a train."

"Uh... Okay. Weird, but I like where it's going."

Shane continued on through the desks towards his office, his plan already formulating in his head. He had told Ryan he wasn't going to fuck around anymore, and he had been serious. Deadly serious. He was done playing nice. He just needed Nellis to give him the all-clear, and he could be rid of Bergara and his team, hopefully for good. He paused at Sara's desk, the CSO raising an eyebrow at him.

"When we land, I want to get straight down to it," he said firmly, one hand on his hip, the other still holding his mug of coffee. "I don't want to be waiting around. So let's bring Andrew with us, okay? He saved our asses in Milan."

"Yeah, cool. I'll buzz him now." She waited a few seconds before calling him back. "Hey, Shane. Can I just give you a word of advice?"

He frowned at her, mug halfway to his mouth. "Uh, yeah. Can't guarantee I'll take it, though."

"Just... This is a police operation, okay?" She kept her voice low so no one else could hear; she knew it wasn't anyone else's business anyway. "Not a personal vendetta against you-know-who."

Shane waited a few minutes before deciding not to even bother lying. "There's nothing to stop it from being both, Rubin. And don't disrespect Voldemort like that, Ryan isn't half as scary."

She rolled her eyes, stifling her smile as she picked up the phone to let Andrew know he was about to have a surprise holiday. "Yeah, whatever. Just be careful, alright?"

"Yeah. Maybe."

* * *

It was pitch black outside but for the streetlights. God, the day just flew by, but that's what it was always like when you spent hours finishing up the fine points of an even finer plan. Ryan had to take the subway to Adam's; it was a difficult place to park a car (for a reason), and really, the subway was just easier. He had just finished going through the details of Adam's first venture into the field since Milan, which had frightened the guy very much. Adam was like a baby bird in that way. Well, a baby bird with access to an extensive array of things it most certainly shouldn't have access to, and was therefore a highly dangerous individual in itself. Ryan had just gone down the first few steps, phone to his ear with Helen's number dialed, when he came around the corner below. For a few long, painful seconds, they stared at each other, both seemingly frozen in shock. Shane moved first, slowly making his way up the dimly-lit steps towards him, footsteps echoing against the stone.

Helen's voice piped up in his ear. "Hey, Ryan! I-" He hung up instantly, slipping his phone into his pocket as he continued down the steps. 

They watched each other cautiously, warily, slowing as they got closer together. Finally they just stopped, Ryan a few steps higher, for once being the one looking down at Shane. He wasn't even sure why he stopped. He should've just kept walking, acted like he didn't see him. No, that was stupid. They were the only two people in the immediate vicinity, it seemed. Shane was still watching him, face unreadable. 

"Well," said Ryan flatly. "My day's ruined."

"Hm. Funny." Shane looked him up and down with open disdain, an eyebrow raised. "What has you hanging around here so late, huh? Visiting a certain tech whiz?"

"How about it's none of your damn business."

"Always so defensive. Wonder why that could be."

Ryan folded his arms firmly across his chest as Shane moved another step up, their eyes still locked. "You're not stalking me, are you?"

"Actually, no. I live around here." 

"I'm sure you do."

Shane gave a lazy smile. "Don't worry, Ryan. You're not _that_ interesting."

Ryan sighed wearily. "Really. You're such a charmer."

"Mm. I'm glad you still think so."

For a minute they simply watched each other, not wanting to speak but not quite wanting to leave either. They were a stick of dynamite and a lit match, with only a few stone steps separating them.

"You know," said Shane slowly, absent-mindedly. "There's one thing I noticed about you that's changed, Ryan."

"Oh, pray tell," said Ryan coolly as the detective finally moved up to the same step as him. "I'm so intrigued."

"You don't hit like a little bitch anymore." The taller man casually squeezed Ryan's arm, raising his eyebrows at him in an almost-impressed fashion. "You've been working out, hm? Too bad you can't do anything about the height aspect, but oh well."

Ryan simply stared up at him, aware of the hand still resting on his arm. "You are one brave man, Shane Madej. I'll give you that."

Shane gave him a small smile. "Why thank you, Ryan. You know how much your opinion matters to me."

He held the taller man's gaze as he felt the hand lightly move up his arm, as softly as a cat would creep up on its prey. "If you think I'm going to let you do this shit with me again, you're very wrong."

"Well, it's nice to see you've finally grown a brain." He dropped the hand, noticing how Ryan's shoulders visibly relaxed at the movement. "It's almost attractive."

"Almost?"

"Almost." Shane turned away, continuing on up the steps. "I mean, you're still you, after all."

Ryan stayed where he was, watching the detective move into the dark street outside. "Hey, Shane."

He came to a halt, half-turning to look down at him, a tall silhouette against the purple sky. "Mm?"

The shorter man didn't say anything for a long few seconds. "Stay safe. It's getting dangerous out here, I think you'll find."

He went down the last few steps, throwing a quick glance back over his shoulder as he was turning the corner. Shane's silhouette still stood at the top of the steps, his hands in his pockets. Watching. _But you're not the only one doing the watching now, Madej_. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lil bit of a setup chapter, but it's gonna get risky af next chapter lads  
> VEGAS BABYYY


	8. All Along The Watchtower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"There must be some kind of way outta here_   
>  _Said the joker to the thief,_   
>  _There's too much confusion,_   
>  _I can't get no relief."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> little bit of non-con in one of the flashbacks here, guys. why do I always let my fics get so weird and dark woops

Sunny Las Vegas, Nevada. A snake pit in the middle of a desert, really. Their flight had arrived just on time, rolling up to the terminal, the happy-go-lucky pilot blabbering over the intercom. Shane should've noticed this voice first. Really, it was the first warning sign. Instead, the first thing that alarmed Shane was the fact that the tarmac outside was oddly busy, with vehicles zipping this way and that, people shouting and calling and chatting loudly. The second was that the minute he and Sara left the plane, the door was shut behind them, cutting off the other passengers, and effectively separating Andrew and TJ from them. 

Sara paused halfway down the steps, frowning up at the closed door. “Why aren’t they letting anyone else out?”

Shane didn’t reply straight away. He was too busy scanning the bustling tarmac, his hand automatically going for his gun, which wasn’t there. They’d handed their weapons over at the airport they'd left from, since there was no direct danger on the flight they would be on. Or so they'd thought. Shane mentally cursed, his eyes darting around the groups of people hurrying back and forth in front of him.

“Stay with me, Sara. Something’s off.” He stood on the tarmac, Sara beside him, the two of them glancing around for any sort of air steward. “This is weird. Why aren’t they letting anyone else off?”

“They are! They’re using the other door!” She squinted under the plane, seeing people beginning to emerge. “What the hell was that about?”

“Quick. Quick, where’s Andrew and TJ?” They began to circle the plane, walking just a bit faster than average. “Stick together, alright?”

She had her phone in her hand, typing something in at a furious pace. “Oh fuck. Shane, Helen Pan owns this airline.”

"What?!" He turned to stare at her, eyes wide. “Well shit. Now we-”

“Move, idiots!”

The loud beep gave just a second’s warning before a luggage carrier barreled between them at a speed suitable for an F1 racecourse. Shane stumbled backwards, seeing Sara trip over her own feet as she did the same on the other side. The baggage carriers trailing off the back of the small vehicle were a moving barrier, stacked high with suitcases, so high Shane could barely see her.

“Sara, go find- Sara?” He couldn’t seem to see her, hurrying towards the end of the train of suitcases as it flew past. “Sara!”

Fuck. She was gone. Where the hell did she go? He spun, his heart racing, moving away from the general area of activity. He jumped as the plane they were on suddenly started moving again, rolling backwards, the engine roaring so loudly he had to clamp his hands over his ears. Where the hell was it going so quickly? They’d literally just landed. His eyes widened as he noticed a face in one of the small windows; a solitary Andrew, shouting at him, slamming on the glass.  _They’re here! They’re here!_  Two security personnel were hurrying into the staff-only part of the terminal, a struggling TJ held between them, his yells muffled by the louder airplane engines. Shane moved towards him before seeing two more TSA personnel had he himself in their sights, moving through the other passengers towards him. He didn’t bother showing his badge; if it hadn’t mattered for TJ, it wouldn’t matter for him.  _Fucking hell, Bergara. You have no chill_.

He turned on his heel, heading straight for the terminal, pretending not to see the two TSA agents shouting at him so loudly the passengers couldn’t help but notice.  _Good_ , thought Shane as he began running for the doors.  _They can’t pop a bullet through my face if people are watching_. The automatic doors slid open, Shane shoving his way between them as soon as they’d opened wide enough, flashing his badge at the stunned air stewardess waiting at the check-in. He had to get to arrivals. They had some guys from the Vegas department waiting there for them, who were not just a lift anymore but much-needed help. Shane pushed through the crowds, ignoring their aggressive curses. He stuck as close as he could to the wall, wishing he was just that tiny bit shorter, perhaps then they-

A hand shot out from the bathrooms, yanking him in with such force he slipped back against the sinks, keeping himself from falling with an elbow in one of the basins. Ryan was on him instantly, wrenching his badge from his hand and flinging it into one of the stalls, the other hand holding a fistful of Shane’s shirt as he held him down. Shane struggled to get a firm footing on the tiles, the sink digging painfully into his back as he shoved a hand into Ryan’s face, pushing his head back at an awkward angle. 

“You son of a bitch, Ryan!” He finally slipped fully under Ryan’s weight, the two of them landing heavily on the slick tiles, the shorter man on top, straddling his waist. “Where’s my team? Where are you bringing them?”

“Does it matter?” muttered Ryan irritably as he fought to keep Shane's hands away from him. 

“Yes it fucking matters!” He kicked out under him, letting out a frustrated shout. “You’re crushing me, you fat fuck.”

“Good.” Ryan grinned down at him, holding his shoulders down to the ground. Shane’s hands pressed into his chest, gripping his shirt yet pushing him away. “You walked right into this one, Madej.”

“Fuck you.” He glared up at him, letting his head fall back against the ground, finally giving up his struggling. At least his shaggy hair gave him some sort of cushion against the tiles. “When did Pan buy the airline, huh? When did you pull that move?”

“Um, when you were about forty five thousand feet in the air, I think?” replied Ryan in mock-thoughtfulness. 

Shane gave a dry laugh, shaking his head. “You know what? I take my hat off to you, Ryan. Well fucking played.”

“Aw, thanks.”

The door banged open, Kelsey quickly closing it behind her. She was dressed in dark blue overalls, and a high-visibility vest. “Before you ask, yeah, I did get a few weird looks coming in here, but oh well.”

“His badge is in the stalls somewhere,” said Ryan, feeling Shane wriggle under him. “Yeah, I think it went in that one.”

She came out seconds later, overalls off to reveal a black pantsuit. It was then Shane realized Ryan was also dressed very professionally, shirt and tie and all.

Kelsey nodded at the badge on her belt, smiling satisfactorily. “Nice. Makes me feel good, I’ll admit it.”

“It looks better on me,” said Shane wryly.

“No, what looked good on you was the shocked look on your face when I almost flattened you and your coworker.” She mimed driving a car, honking a horn. “ _Move, idiots!_ ”

Ryan put an impatient hand out, rolling his eyes. “Come on, Kelsey. Cuffs.”

“Oh yeah. Here.”

He roughly forced Shane onto his front, pulling his arms behind his back with a bit more force than necessary.

“Ah- Watch it, Bergara!” 

“Huh. Funny.” Ryan kept his voice low, leaning forwards as he clipped the cuffs around Shane’s wrists. “I always thought you liked it rough.”

The detective’s voice was just as quiet, his head turned so he could see Ryan out of the corner of his eye. “Well unless you’re about to fuck me, I’d like you to be a bit more gentle.”

“Mm. How about no. To both.” He got to his feet, pulling Shane up with him, ignoring the muttered curse as he did so. 

“I’m not a damn puppet, Ryan. I can get up myself.”

Ryan ignored him, gesturing for Kelsey to take over. He went to the overalls she’d just taken off, retrieving another badge, also an official one. He clipped it onto his belt, seeing Shane’s eyes narrow.

“Where’d you get the second badge?” he demanded, before Kelsey started pushing him towards the door. “Whose is it?”

It was Kelsey who replied, ever the talker. “Oh, I think she said her name was Sara. She-  _Oooh_ , watch your head.”

“Yeah, a bit fucking late,” muttered Shane, hearing Ryan snickering just behind them. “You’d be an awful cop.”

They moved down the bustling corridor, Ryan just ahead, Kelsey pushing Shane through after him. The passengers threw them looks ranging from afraid to curious, but no one said a single thing. Shane waited until they’d gone to a quieter area before speaking, keeping his voice light.

“You do know we have people waiting here for us, don’t you? They’re going to notice when four cops don’t arrive off the plane they were supposed to arrive off.”

Ryan flashed him a grin as he held the door to the employee-only corridors open. “Oh, I think you’ll find they didn’t quite make it. Roadworks can be a hell of a delay, you know? Especially when a drill goes right into, um, all four of your tires.”

“Well fuck me, Ryan. You actually _have_ grown a brain.”

“You’ve been finessed, detective,” said Kelsey with a grin as they made their way towards the employee exit, the air hosts and hostesses not even giving them a second glance. They were all in on it, it seemed. “How do you feel about that?”

Shane squinted in the sunlight, the heat washing over him as they stepped outside. “It’s not quite over yet, I think you’ll find.”

“I think  _you’ll_ find it is.” Ryan opened the back of the waiting car, sweeping an arm towards it. “After you, good sir.”

Shane gave him a narrow-eyed smile, trying not to show just how annoyed he was at how quickly he’d been played. “Thank you, Ryan. Ever the gentleman.”

“I try.” He sat in the car after Shane, undoing his tie as he did so. “Now, I’m gonna have to pop this on you. Can’t have you knowing where we’re going, right?” He knelt up on the seats, slipping one knee between the detective’s legs, their faces inches apart. “Kind of ruins the whole purpose.”

“A blindfold? Really?” Shane rolled his eyes as Kelsey started the car, pulling away from the terminal.  “Well, Ryan, it’s almost as if you don’t  _trust_ me.”

Ryan’s smile slipped, his eyes fixing on Shane’s. “Don’t you dare.” 

“Still afraid of that little word, hm?”

“When it comes to you, yeah. Because you threw it back in my face.”

“I couldn’t have thrown it back in your face if you never gave it to me in the first place,” replied Shane sharply, shutting up as Ryan suddenly shoved him back against the seats, holding him flat against them with one hand.

“Don’t make me use this as a gag, because I swear to God I’m trying to stop myself from  _choking_ you with it right now,” said Ryan through gritted teeth, holding the tie up. Whether it was the tie he wanted Shane to see or the clenched fist holding it, he wasn’t sure. Shane defiantly held his gaze, breathing heavily, chest heaving under Ryan’s hand. 

“Ryan.” It was Kelsey’s voice, her gaze fixed on them in the rear view mirror. “Calm it down a bit, buddy.”

The shorter man finally tore his gaze from Shane’s, pulling the tie over the detective’s eyes with enough force to pull his head back, forcing an irritated grunt from his mouth. He hurriedly tied it, pausing after pulling it tight. Shane couldn’t see a thing, but he could feel Ryan’s breath hot against his mouth, he could feel Ryan’s hand on his chest for balance. Ryan felt Shane’s heartbeat pick up under his hand, heard him swallowing, take a quiet, deep breath. For a few seconds, it was as if no one else was there. Just the two of them, mouths lingering just a bit too close together, breath mingling. Too close. Dangerously close.

Ryan almost rushed away, clambering off him and to the seat on the opposite side of the car, pressing himself against the door. He threw a glance at the detective, who was sitting with his head hanging, breathing long, heavy breaths.  _Well, fuck_. Ryan turned to stare out the window, biting down on his lip.  _Fuck fuck fuck_.

"It's the next left, isn't it?"

Ryan nodded quickly, swallowing. "Uh, yeah. Yeah. That's it."

* * *

_Ryan was waiting for him when he came in, phone in hand. Probably about to call him for the millionth time. He shot to his feet, not even giving Shane a chance to close the door fully before getting started._

_"Did you say something to my brother?"_

_Shane blinked innocently, eyebrows raised. "Hm?"_

_Ryan closed his eyes, hands on his hips. "Did you say something. To my brother."_

_"Well, I bumped into him yesterday," shrugged Shane, moving to the kitchen to get a mug down from the cupboard. "If that's what you mean."_

_"And did you talk to him?"_

_"About what?" asked Shane, boiling the kettle. "You'll have to be a bit more specific."_

_"About me." He stood across the counter from him, hands resting on it. "Because he won't reply to any of my messages. And my mom and dad won't answer my calls."_

_Shane didn't reply for a long minute, before simply shrugging. "You might have come up in conversation."_

_"Shane I am fucking serious if you brought up what I do I'll fucking kill you." The words shot out of his mouth like bullets from a gun. "I told you they don't know. They think I have an actual job."_

_"I didn't say I brought it up!"_

_"Did you?"_

_Shane shrugged again. "Maybe."_

_"Stop fucking me around, Shane." He circled the counter to face him, fists clenched by his sides. "Did you tell them what I do?"_

_"And if I did?" The taller man leaned against the counter, arms folded across his chest. "What are you so scared of? That they won't_ trust _you anymore?"_

_For a second, Ryan thought he was literally on fire he was so angry. He could feel it in his chest, scorching hot, threatening to make him do what it always made him do._

_"You told my family that I'm a criminal." His words were shaking, he couldn't seem to control it. "You know they'll never want to even see me again. You promised you'd never tell them. You promised!" He was shouting now, but he couldn't get himself to calm down, he'd lost it again._

_"I want you to know how it feels, Ryan." There wasn't a shred of empathy on Shane's face as he turned back to the kettle, hearing it bubbling loudly as it came to the boil. "To have someone you care about not trust you. It's not a nice feeling, isn't it not."_

_Ryan was looking at him like he was Satan himself. "I can't believe you. I honestly can't believe you told them!"_

_"Well believe it, Ryan. Because that's what I did."_

_Ryan stared at him in silence. But then again, actions speak louder than words, don't they?_

That episode had been particularly bad. Not because of the violence; he was pretty sure there was no way that could even get worse. No, it was the first time it took a turn for the... the sexual side. Ryan had had him pinned to the kitchen floor, a wild look in his eyes, and then he'd just kissed him. Hard. Not a single hint of love to it. At first Shane had said no, _no_ , he didn't want to start this, he didn't _want_ to. But Ryan had just ignored him, he'd been so fucking mad. And maybe Shane had deserved it. If there was one thing he'd done that he would take back, it was telling Ryan's family about the long list of crimes he'd committed. It was too far, but he hadn't noticed back then. He hadn't been right in the head, neither of them had been. 

_"Ryan, stop!" He tried to turn his head away, but Ryan had always been stronger than him. "I said stop!"_

_And really, had he even expected Ryan to give a shit about what he was saying after what he'd just done? And like a light being switched on, Shane began kissing him back, just letting his head go, ignoring his very own thoughts. It started as a make-out session that was basically a fight in itself, then had slipped into shirts being opened, belts being unbuckled, mouths and hands running free. Ryan let Shane get on top, he knew what was about to happen. And it had happened. No tenderness, nothing remotely gentle about it. Just like two literal animals, right on the kitchen floor, as if they couldn't even manage the thirty seconds it would take to move to the bedroom. The neighbors definitely hated them by then._

They didn't talk after. Not a word. Ryan slept on the couch, but he didn't even close his eyes to try and sleep. All he could think was that he'd ignored a straight, plain "no". It was still something he thought about. He wasn't sure if it counted as... as non-consenting, since it was Shane who'd taken control in the end. But did that matter? Ryan stared at himself in the mirror for a long moment before splashing more water on his face, but it just wasn't cold enough. He wanted it painfully cold. Distractingly cold. He dried his face with the towel, taking a minute to compose himself before moving back to the kitchen.

"Steven just arrived with the other guy." Kelsey put a cup of coffee down in front of him, looking at him closely. "You okay, man?"

"I'm fine. I'm good." He sat down at the table, giving her a grateful smile. "Thanks for the coffee."

"It's no problem."

It was weird, knowing Shane was just a few feet away in the next room. They'd tied him to one of the many pipes covering the wall, leaving him with his arms held awkwardly over his head, at clearly uncomfortable angles. Ryan had felt bad for a fraction of a second, until he reminded himself exactly who Shane was again. What he'd done. 

"Dude, you're drifting again." She lowered her voice, a serious look in her eyes. "If you feel like it's all a bit too much, I get it."

"It's not too much," he snapped, seeing her blink at his sudden change. "It's fine. I can handle it. What makes you think I can't handle it?"

"Well, firstly, you've been avoiding the room like the plague," she replied firmly, hands on her hips. "And secondly, I saw what happened in the car."

"Nothing happened in the car!"

"The vibes, Ryan, I got them!" 

He scowled at her, lifting his mug to his mouth. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"If I hadn't been there, you guys would've just gone at it," she said, with a matter-of-fact nod. "I could smell it, Ryan. The hormones. Like you were a pair of teens."

"Shut up. You're talking out your ass."

"I hope I am! Because you can't start with this Stockholm syndrome shit now, dude. It'll ruin our whole plan."

"I'm not- We wouldn't have done anything!" he hissed, pointing at her. "And keep your voice down. He's just in the next room."

"Which you're going to go and talk to him in." She raised a hand to stop his complaining. "Listen, I have to take the Andrew guy because he and Steven are already like best friends. Don't ask, because I don't know. Steven's going to take Sara. TJ hasn't turned up yet, which is a bit of an issue. And Adam can't question people to save his life."

Ryan was quiet for a moment. "Why can't I take Sara and Steven take Shane?"

"Because Shane will run him in circles, Ryan. You know that." She snorted. "Steven would probably be the one in the handcuffs by the end. It's too risky because he's too gullible."

Ryan sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair. "Fine. I'll question Shane."

"Now."

He stared up at her, the dictionary definition of puppy-dog eyes. "Now?"

"Yes." She turned away, heading for the main corridor of the small warehouse. "And if you're feeling feelings of horniness, run and get me, alright?"

"Oh shut up, Kels." He spun in the swivel chair to look at the door, which suddenly seemed ten times more ominous than before. "Right. Right, okay."

 


	9. The Chain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"Listen to the wind blow, watch the sun rise,_   
>  _Running in the shadows, damn your love, damn your lies_   
>  _And if you don't love me now_   
>  _You will never love me again_   
>  _I can still hear you saying_   
>  _You would never break the chain."_

Ryan stood in the doorway, mug in hand, simply watching. He wasn’t sure whether he was entertained or disappointed, really. The detective had managed to get to his feet, arms crossed over each other from turning around, and had a foot against the wall, pulling determinedly at the cuffs around the pipe. Ryan stood in silence, listening to the irritated mutters as Shane wrapped his fingers around the chain of the cuffs, giving them another hard yank. 

“Do you actually think you can pull the pipe off the wall?”

Shane froze, turning his head to look at him in one snappy movement. For a moment, he just stared with a serious look on his face, like a child who had been caught scribbling on the walls yet had no remorse about doing it. "Well, look who finally built up the courage to come in here. I thought you’d send in one of the other idiots.”

 _I fucking tried_. “But you’re such a joy to talk to, Shane. It was an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up on.”

“Well tickle me pink, Bergara. I’m flattered.” He relaxed, letting his arms slide back down the pipe, the cuffs scratching off the metal. “I’d say the same for you, but not everyone can be as undeniably interesting as I myself am.”

Ryan sighed heavily, letting the door shut behind him. “I can’t believe no one has knocked that irrational confidence out of you by now.”

“Well  _you_ sure tried,” said Shane dryly, leaning against the wall, as casually as if he was at a bar and not chained up in a warehouse in an unknown location. “And if you couldn’t do it, I don’t think even Mike Tyson himself could.”

“As odd as this is, I’m complimented.” 

Shane nodded at the mug in his hand. “Where’s mine, huh?”

Ryan sat on the sill of the low window, which looked out onto nothing but dry sand for miles. “You don’t get one. Sorry if that upsets you.”

“Hey, remember when I used to put all the mugs on the top shelf of the cupboards and you’d have to climb onto the counter to get them?” Shane laughed long and loud, eyes squeezed shut, leaning forwards so he could wipe a stray tear away. “God, that was always so funny. I honestly never got tired of it.”

Ryan’s face was unimpressed, his lips pressed together in a firm line. “Yeah. Hilarious.”

“C’mon, Ry. You thought it was funny too.” He shrugged. “Look, before it got bad, it was good. There’s no point in denying it.”

“I’m not here to reminisce about all that crap, Shane. So shut up.” Ryan frowned at him. “Also, why don’t you just turn back around so that you don’t have to, like, look over your shoulder at me.”

“I-” Shane paused, a flat look on his face as he stared ahead at the wall. “Because it took me a lot of effort to turn this way in the first place, Ryan. I had to kind of, like, get low enough so I could get my arms over my head, and there was a lot of twisting and turning, and, well… Do you remember that scene from  _Bambi_ when he’s on the ice?”

“Right, I get it.” 

“Sometimes you should count your blessings that you’re only five foot nine.”

“Five foot  _ten_ , asshole.”

“Five foot nine and three quarters, isn’t it?” 

Ryan took a long sip from his coffee, glaring at the grinning Shane as he did so. “Yes. It’s that.”

“See? I didn’t forget  _everything_ you told me.”

“Yeah, only the actual important stuff,” said Ryan icily. “Like my mother’s birthday dinner.”

“That was- I was working, Ryan! Jesus!”

“I told you about it, like, a month before it was scheduled, and you still forgot!” 

Shane let out a frustrated groan, letting his shoulders slump as he rolled his eyes. “For God’s sake, it was six fucking years ago! Let it go, man!”

“That was one of the last times I got to see her, Shane!” He got to his feet, moving across the empty room so that Shane could see him more easily. “That was one of the last times she ever talked to me, before you pulled that fucking stunt!”

At least the detective had the decency to look away. Shane kept his gaze lowered, turning his head to glare at the red marks around his wrists from pulling at the cuffs. He could hear Ryan crossing the room towards him, stopping just in front of him, so that there was no where else to look but at him.

“You never said sorry,” said Ryan with a quiet anger, a cold one, so different from the usual flare-ups. “You never said sorry about that. Never.”

Shane forced himself to look at him, a sidelong glare. “Would it even have made a difference to what happened?”

“It would have made a difference to  _me_ , Shane! It would’ve meant the goddamn world to me but you just wouldn’t say it!” He stared the taller man down, his mug tight in his hand, the heat of the coffee inside unnoticed. “And you still won’t say it. Not even now. Not even six years later.”

“No, I won’t say it,” snapped Shane, the cuffs rattling as he moved to face Ryan, his restraints preventing him from doing so quite as efficiently as he would have liked. “Because in case you haven’t noticed, I’m trying to put you in jail and you’ve literally just kidnapped me and even though you only  _just_ said that you didn’t come in here to talk about what happened between us, it’s all you’ve fucking talked about, Ryan! So shut up!”

“You know what? I was wrong! I can’t do this.” He turned away, pausing for a few long seconds before suddenly flinging the mug against the far wall with enough force for it to shatter, coffee splattering the white plaster. “God fucking damn it, Shane!”

The detective watched in silence as Ryan stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him hard enough for it to rattle in its hinges. Shane waited until he was sure Ryan wouldn't come back in before letting himself slide to the ground, sitting back against the wall, burying his face in the crook of his elbow. He took a deep breath, and another, and another, before he realized what he was trying to do was stop himself from crying. He blinked back his surprise tears, frowning in confusion as he did so. Maybe Sara had been right. Maybe he _did_ have pent-up emotions about the whole thing. What he would do with this information, he wasn't sure. He'd shove it back into the shadows of his mind if he could, but it seemed to like being noticed, and was stubbornly refusing to be bottled back up. _Goddamn it, Subconscious Shane. You're worse than I am_.

The door suddenly opened again, and Ryan marched back in, standing with his hands on his hips. He had promptly realized that he had only recently told Kelsey he could handle the whole situation, and he'd rather face Shane than have to admit he actually couldn't. He was their point man, their voice of reason. He couldn't start cracking now. He wouldn't. Shane's eyes appeared over his elbow, his hair bouncing as his head moved. Neither of them spoke. Just watched. Really, neither of them were too sure how to proceed. Their past arguments had always either ended in a physical fight or a silent treatment that lasted for numerous days. Or, well, sex. Usually sex. 

"I know you're still dressed like a cop and all," said Shane dryly. "But if you're gonna fool anyone, you're gonna have to start acting like one. As in, not throwing shit when you fail miserably at questioning someone."

"I don't think I'll be taking advice on how to be a good cop from one who tried to fight me in a police station."

"That treatment's only for you, Ryan. You're a VIP in my books."

"Is that supposed to make me feel special?"

"Well, that depends." Shane smiled at him. "Does it?"

Ryan gave him a narrow-eyed look. "No. Not really."

Shane tutted in disappointment, a look of mock-sadness on his face. "Damn. I'll have to try harder next time, I guess."

"I don't know how to say this without sounding too cliché, but there isn't gonna be a next time." Ryan crouched down in front of him, watching his face closely. "Why did you follow us here? What do you have planned?"

"What do I have _planned_?" The detective rolled his eyes. "C'mon, man. You really think I'm that organized?"

"I've outplayed you twice now, Shane." Ryan's eyes didn't leave his, gaze intense, searching. "You must be mad about that."

 _You have no idea_. "You're so suspicious. I'm hurt."

"You _are_ mad. I can tell."

"You can tell?" replied Shane wryly, raising an eyebrow. "Don't get too comfortable here, Ryan. It didn't turn out too well last time, if you recall."

"You have something planned," said Ryan firmly, ignoring the attempt at changing the subject. "I know you do. Because I know _you_."

Shane smiled at this, a bitter one. "You know what? You're right. I do have something planned. And you're going to walk right into it, because you're a stupid idiot. And you won't be walking out of it this time, Ryan. I promise."

"Your promises don't mean much." 

"I wasn't promising you. I was promising myself. And I don't break promises to myself."

Ryan gave a sharp laugh. "You always have an answer for everything, don't you?"

Shane smiled, an almost humble gesture. "It's a blessing and a curse."

"It's the latter in this scenario." He straightened back up again, looking down his nose at the detective as he rolled his sleeves up more firmly. "So you can either tell me what you have planned, or I'll break every bone in your body."

"I suppose I'll have to be standing for this." Shane pushed himself to his feet, the cuffs scraping up the pipe. His hands stayed behind his head, elbows pointed out, taking a slow breath as he looked at him from under heavy lids. "Come on, Bergara. Don't disappoint."

Ryan bit his lip hard, hard enough to hurt, his breathing heavy as he struggled to keep his eyes just on Shane's face. "I'll do it, Shane. Don't think I won't."

"Good. Do it."

He took a step towards the taller man, fists clenched by his sides so tightly it hurt. "I think I'll knock that stupid smile off your stupid face first."

"C'mon then, Ryan. You never used to hesitate." He raised an eyebrow. "Unless you've lost your edge."

"I haven't lost anything, Shane," he replied through gritted teeth. _Just my mind_.

"Then what are you waiting for?" said Shane just as fiercely, refusing to show even the slightest apprehension. Maybe he could get Ryan to hit him in the face hard enough to straight-up knock him unconscious. "Hey, you wanna know what else I never said sorry for?"

"What?" Ryan was right in his face now, a dangerous spark in his eyes. "What? What else?"

"I did all your taxes before I left, and I did them absolutely fucking awfully so that the IRS would audit the fuck out of you!"

"They did that because of _you_?" Ryan stared at him in stunned silence. "You son of a fucking bitch! What the fuck?!"

"Because fuck you, Ryan! You deserved it!"

"I didn't deserve _any_ of the shit you put me through!"

"Stop playing the victim! You always played the damn victim! You had everyone wrapped around your goddamn finger and I looked like the big bad fucking villain!" He noticed he was shouting, furious, the shorter man glaring right back at him. "Poor little Ryan, poor little defenseless Ryan! He wouldn't hurt a fucking fly!"

"You're so full of shit, Shane! You're such a fucking liar!"

"I'm not a liar!" 

"Don't you _dare_ say that to me!" shouted Ryan, absolutely livid, pushing the taller man back against the pipe hard enough to force an irritated grunt from his mouth. "You lied to me the entire time we were together! You messed me up, Shane!"

"Oh, we were _together_ now, were we?"

"Goddamn it, Shane! I'll say it! We were together, okay!" 

That one sentence was more startling than a scream. They stared at each other in silence, both breathing heavily, like they'd just run a marathon with something terrifying chasing them the entire time. Ryan swallowed, noticing how the taller man's eyes flickered to his mouth and back up again, a look in his eyes that was on the border between alarmed and aroused. Before he even noticed what he was doing, Ryan's hands had settled on his chest, swiftly moving up to slip around the back of his neck, pulling him in so that their lips were bare centimeters apart. The shorter man closed his eyes, feeling his lashes brush off Shane's face, feeling the taller man's chest moving against his as he breathed heavily. Shane kept his own eyes squeezed shut, aware of nothing but his own thumping heart, and Ryan's thumbs resting on his cheeks.

"Ryan." He was breathing quietly, shakily, and in this moment he was _extremely_  annoyed he had the cuffs holding him back. "You have to either punch me in the face or kiss me _right_ _now_ or I'll fucking explode."

"Kelsey!" Ryan didn't step away, he couldn't. He was frozen, his mind too busy trying to stop him from doing something really, _really_ stupid. "KELSEY! Please come in here!"

The door burst open almost instantly, Kelsey skidding into the room, shattering the air as she did so. The two men instantly relaxed, Shane slumping back against the pipe with his eyes closed, Ryan spinning away, crossing the room towards the door with his face buried in his hands. He passed by her, going straight through to the kitchen. Seconds later, he heard her follow, closing the door firmly.

"What the hell was that?" She watched him as he collapsed into a chair, elbows on the table, hands linked behind his head. "Like, holy shit, dude. How the hell did that even happen?"

"I don't know. I don't know!" Ryan let his head fall forwards onto the table, his arms folded around it in a little cocoon. "I need a minute. I just need a minute."

She stared at him in horror. "You guys still have feelings for each other."

"No! No, no, no we don't. _I_ don't. And he doesn't even have feelings." He groaned, the sound muffled against the table. "It was just... It was just a moment of weakness. On my part. I have it under control. I do."

"You do not." She stood on the other side of the table, arms folded firmly. "You were meant to question him, Ryan! Not do whatever the hell you were about to do! And- Steven, where are you going?"

Steven paused in his sneaking behind her, a smile plastered on his face. "To talk to Andr- To the guy. To question the guy."

"What? No! He's the enemy!"

"Well, yeah, as a group we're enemies, but I thought maybe like, individually, we could chill?"

"That makes no sense, Steven! Sit down!" She gave them both a stern scowl. "Come on, guys. We're meant to be securing our position here. Instead one of you is now best friends with one of them, and the other is trying to fuck the lead detective!"

"We're not _best_ friends."

"I'm not trying to fuck him!"

"Both of you need to cop the fuck on!" She leaned across the table, pointing a finger at each of them in turn. "You need to see that Andrew is not your friend, he's trying to put you in jail. And _you_ need to see that that guy in there is bad for you, always has been, and always will be!"

The two men sat in disgruntled silence, glowering at the table. She rolled her eyes, letting out an irritated sigh. She wasn't meant to be doing the calming down and the organizing and the strict talking. That was meant to be Ryan. _She_ was meant to just be friendly and maybe flirt here and there and just be a booming socialite. Instead, their driver had been sneaking off to gossip with the enemy's driver, and the man who was meant to be calming them all down was instead about to hit the roof. And Adam... Where the hell was Adam?

She located him in a room a few doors down. The warehouse they were renting wasn't as much a warehouse but a large hallway with corridors branching off every which way, and was quite modern for a warehouse. Minimalist, she believed the word was. 

"Hey, Adam. What's the update with the TJ guy?"

For once in his life, Adam looked almost embarrassed, throwing a quick glance over his glasses at her. "I don't know. Can't find him." 

"Huh? You can't find him?"

"No. I'm trying."

"Try harder!" She groaned in irritation, hands over her eyes. "This is a damn mess. When is that train supposed to be passing through?"

"Tomorrow, midday."

"Still with the money?"

"Mmhmm."

"Right. So we have until tomorrow midday to sort out these idiots." She turned away, sighing heavily. "And I don't even know which team I'm talking about anymore."

* * *

It was late. Midnight, half one, half two, Ryan wasn't sure. He refused to check his phone, he knew he'd just end up waking up even more. If that was even possible. He rolled over in the bed, pulling the covers tighter around him, eyes squeezed closed. Fuck it, he just couldn't stop _thinking_. And not about what he was supposed to be thinking about. He rolled over again, burying his face in the pillow, wishing he could just be switched off like one of Adam's gadgets. But nope, he just had to be a stupid human with a stupid brain. A few minutes of tossing and turning later, a few minutes of staring at the wall and the ceiling and the wall again, he sat up, reaching for his soft grey jumper and pulling it on over his head. He sat for a few minutes before deciding to just get dressed; there was no way he was going to sleep tonight. He needed to walk. He needed a glass of water.

He stood in the dark kitchen, in the silence, glass of water in hand. _Just go back to bed, Ryan. Go!_ Instead, he ignored himself, and went to the door leading to... to him. _This is gonna backfire, Ryan. Don't. Don't be an idiot_. He slowly, quietly opened the door, simply standing for a minute. He could see Shane's tall, thin figure, a silhouette against the dim white room. He sat a bit more upright against the pipe, indicating that he was indeed awake. If there was a technique to sleeping with your arms tied above your head, he hadn't mastered it quite yet. Neither of them spoke as Ryan crossed the room, kneeling down beside him, placing the glass of water aside. He could see the shine off Shane's eyes as he looked at him, hearing him breathe slowly, his chest rising and falling. 

Ryan leaned forwards, pressing his lips to Shane's, a soft but strong kiss. He placed a hand on the back of Shane's neck to almost guide him, the detective returning the desperation, the recklessness as their mouths moved against each other, tongues brushing. It went on for a minute, two minutes, an hour, it could've been anything. Shane wanted nothing more than for the cuffs to disappear, than for everything else to just disappear apart from him and Ryan. But it was over too soon, and Ryan was gone, the glass of water left abandoned in his haste. The door swung shut behind him, leaving Shane with nothing but the darkness, his troubled thoughts, and the stifled giggles of Andrew and Steven a few rooms down. _Jesus, this is a mess_. And the train. The damn train. He let his head hang, willing himself to stay relatively sane. _You and Ryan will not go anywhere. You never went anywhere. This has to be done. Tomorrow has to happen_. He paused in his thinking, realizing that since TJ was probably somewhere in this building, tomorrow _didn't_ actually have to happen. It wouldn't, if TJ wasn't there to pull the trigger. 

He tried to ignore why he felt so relieved about it.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also I used a lot of songs for inspo about their whole thing in this fic so if you wanna listen to a few here u go they're good  
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYHKNHsbmNs26dVzSnDDlxNDFeqMn0VUb
> 
> and also the last 3 are the VIBES i'm planning for the last chapter sooo


	10. You Keep Me Hangin' On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"Set me free why don't you babe,_   
>  _Get out my life why don't you babe,_   
>  _'Cause you don't really love me,_   
>  _You just keep me hangin' on."_

_Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid_. That was all he thought as he sat in the car, looking at nothing but the dim white sand for miles. The sun had just started to rise.  _Stupid stupid stupid. You idiot. Why did you do that?_

He felt like knocking himself out against the steering wheel. He’d done the worst thing he could have possibly done. It was one of those mistakes that made you shudder, made your chest feel tight simply because of all the awful things that were now allowed to happen. He should’ve locked the door and given the key to Kelsey so that he couldn’t get in to Shane, no matter how much he would’ve wanted to. But instead he’d gone in, he’d fucking _kissed_ the guy, and the worst thing about it was that Shane had kissed him back. He’d kissed him back like his lips were air and he couldn’t breathe. Ryan's grip tightened on the steering wheel. God, he wished he could just crush his feelings with his bare hands, but they were too slippery, shifting too quickly to get a good grip. He didn’t like Shane. He _didn’t_ like Shane, he wouldn’t let himself. Not after everything Shane had done. But fuck it, he sure liked the way he kissed, the way he’d pulled at the cuffs as he’d instinctively tried to touch him, the soft, almost pleading way he’d said his name as he left the room. Ryan let out a frustrated sigh, glowering at the dirt road ahead. He wanted to punch something. He wanted someone to punch him. He wanted Shane, most of all. And this was an almost painful feeling, because he knew exactly what would happen if they did try anything. They’d go down the exact same route at last time, except with higher risks. Shane wasn’t just a common cop anymore, he was a lead detective. And Ryan wasn’t simply robbing stores anymore, he was organizing heists on banks, museums that held millions of dollars in the balance. It just wouldn't work. 

And yet he still wanted something to just go right for once.

“Hey, dude.” 

Ryan jumped at the sound of Kelsey’s voice, the car swerving slightly. “Jesus! Don't do that!”

“Don't do what?" she replied flatly. "I'm being normal. You're just too caught up in your _thoughts_.” 

Ryan frowned at her, a quick one as he kept his eyes on the road. “Why’d you say it like that?”

“Because you were in with the detective,” said Kelsey slowly, raising an eyebrow. “Unless the guy somehow managed to get his own glass of water?”

Fuck. “It must've been Steven.”

She rolled her eyes. “I wasn't born yesterday, Ryan. It was you. Mainly because it was Steven who told me so.”

He turned his head away, scowling. “I was just checking up on him. He’s sneaky, I had to make sure he hadn’t wiggled his way out of this one while we were sleeping.”

“C'mon, Ryan. You did more than check up on him.”

“I didn’t!”

"Well Steven said that Shane was almost disappointed when he saw it was just him." She said it slowly, knowingly. "It was like he was hoping it was a certain _someone_ _else_.”

Ryan gave her a sidelong look. “I don’t know. He’s weird like that.”

“And _you’re_ insane. Even after how it ended? What he did to you?” Kelsey’s voice was firm, but it was no use trying to talk sense to a brick wall. “How he treated you? Even though you weren’t much better.” 

Ryan turned his head to look at her directly, face reddening, the car slowing ever so slightly. “What do you mean?”

“Yeah, Andrew told Steven.”

"Why is Steven such a gossipy bitch all of a sudden?"

Kelsey ignored the question. She looked almost hurt that she’d heard the truth from someone else. “He told me how your relationship was more of a damn fight club than anything else. Why didn’t you tell us that you guys were that bad?”

 _Because Shane's right. I always play the fucking victim_. “Because I didn’t want to think about it, Kelsey! I was- We were both in a really bad place. It just spiraled, it got out of hand, I don’t know.”

“Why didn’t you guys just break up?!”

“I don’t know!”

“You don’t know a hell of a lot about your relationship with him.” She sounded disappointed, like a teacher finding out one of their top students had failed an exam. “You guys clearly needed help, but you never got it, and now we’re in way out of our depth with this stuff because of you and your feelings!”

“What do you want me to do?” Ryan quickly lowered his voice, realizing he was shouting. “I couldn’t do anything back then, and I can’t do anything now. Okay?”

“Talk to him.” 

He almost choked on his own breath. “What?!”

“Talk to him,” repeated Kelsey more firmly. “You guys need some sort of closure, can’t you see that?”

“I’m not going to talk with him,” hissed Ryan, as if Shane could hear them. The car sped up again, the dust floating behind them. “We don’t- We never talked about what happened. I wouldn’t even know how to start. Or where.”

“You start by saying ‘we need to talk’. It’s that easy.”

“He’ll laugh in my face. You don’t know what it was like.” Ryan's eyes were wide, almost panicked. “I can’t talk to him, Kelsey. I can’t. It’s- It’s too hard. It’s too much. I’ll crack up.” 

She laughed, rolling her eyes. “You’re already pretty cracked, Ry. But if you’re not going to talk to him about what happened, then stop whatever the hell you’re doing and start acting appropriately, dude!”

“Acting appropriately?”

“He’s the lead detective on the team trying to take you, trying to take _us_ , down!” She threw her hands in the air, literally baffled by the confusion she was witnessing. “If you don’t start treating him like the threat he is, he’ll rip us apart! He can’t leave this place alive, you know that, right?"

Ryan blinked. “I- I don’t see how why?"

“If he walks out of here breathing, he walks out with way too much on us. Who knows what he’s seen? Who knows what any of them have seen?” Her eyes were wide, sincere. “And the tech guy never turned up! He must’ve gotten away, which means he’s probably trying to find us right now! Which also means Adam can’t leave this place, if he’s to keep us under the radar.”

“None of them have to _die_ , Kelsey! Jesus."

"You see, this is it," she said, pointing a finger at him. "You've gone soft because of your feelings."

"I haven't gone soft," he replied defensively. "And I was never particularly ruthless in the first place, anyway. I've never _killed_ anyone. Neither of us have!"

"I killed a guy once!" She paused. "Or at least knocked him out. I hit him with a pipe, anyway, and he fell over. I don't know if he died, but whatever. What matters is that we're in this mess because of you and Shane!"

Shit. Were they? "No, we'd be in this situation anyway, Kelsey."

"No, we wouldn't. You let Shane get to you."

"I didn't!"

She listed them off on her fingers. "You let him get to you at Quinta's, you let him get to you in Milan, you let him get to you at the station, you let him get to you tonight. Stop letting him get to you!"

"I can't!" he replied, an almost-shout, hitting the steering wheel. "I fucking can't! He just knows how to fuck with me, he always knew how to!" He sighed long and loud. "It's like I'm a damn Pokemon, when it says 'it hurt itself in its confusion!'." 

She gave him a flat look. "Did you really just reference Pokemon to my face?"

"It's how I feel!"

"Then un-feel it, Ryan!" She sat back in her seat, arms folded. "Because we've got work to do. Right now. And you better not screw it up by thinking too much about _him_ , okay?"

 _Yeah_ , he thought to himself. _Fat chance._

* * *

His shoulders were really beginning to hurt. He'd twisted and turned and tried everything to get a somewhat comfortable position, but it just wasn't working. Shane gave the cuffs a frustrated yank, sighing heavily. Well, that's hour six of No Fucking Sleep. But even if he was in the most comfortable bed in the world, he probably still wouldn't have slept. He couldn't stop thinking. About the kiss. And about that stupid little idiot with his stupid soft smile and his stupid innocent eyes and the stupid way he still slapped the nearest flat surface when he laughed too hard. Shane closed his eyes, resting his head back against the pipe, taking a deep breath. _Steady. Steady yourself, Madej. Don't fall for it again_.

It was getting bright outside, he could see it through the window. It went on for miles, endless, the sand a stark white against the blue sky. He tried to focus on anything that could give him a hint to where he was, that could help him locate the place if he got out. And he would get out. He _would_.

The door opened, slowly, reluctantly. Shane pulled himself into an upright position, trying not to show his disappointment when he saw it was only Adam. The guy stood in the doorway, glancing around the room, as if there was anything else to look at. He seemed so innocent, with his headphones hanging around his neck, his laptop balanced on one hand. 

Shane raised his eyebrows at him expectantly. "What?"

"Oh, um... I just have to check up on you."

He shrugged his stiff shoulders. "Alright. Well, I'm still here. So."

"Okay. Cool."

"Hey, wait." He frowned at the guy. "Why is it you doing the checking? You haven't done it before."

"They're gone."

"Huh?"

"Ryan and Kelsey are gone." Adam gave an awkward smile. "To rob something. A train."

"Well, okay." They'd probably just get turned away, since TJ wasn't there to give the base the all-clear. "How's the others?"

"Oh, uh, Steven's just chilling."

"Not _your_ others, idiot. Mine."

"They're good." He shrugged, eyes widening as his laptop teetered dangerously in his hand. "Woops. Yeah, uh, Andrew and the girl are good."

"And TJ?"

"Hm?" 

Shane rolled his eyes. "TJ. Beard. Cap. Likes to be referred to as the 'Teegeman'."

"Oh, he's not here."

A long pause. "What."

"He got away." The guy sounded almost irritated, scowling at his laptop. "He's trying to-"

"Adam, Adam, listen. Listen to me." He could already feel the panic rising in his chest, his heart positively skipping. "When did Ryan and the other one leave? How long ago?"

"Like, half an hour, maybe?"

"Oh fuck." He scrambled to his feet, falling against the pipe in his haste. "Adam, you need to tell them not to go for the train. Don't go for it!"

Adam was watching him with dubious eyes. "Why not?"

"Because I've done something fucking terrible! Fuck!" He couldn't breathe, his chest felt tight. "It's a trap, Adam! I set a stupid trap and they're going to fucking die!"

"They're going to die?!"

"Yes! Yes!" He pulled at the cuffs, hard enough to hurt. "Let me out of these. Let me out, I need to stop this!"

"Is this a bit?"

"No! Adam, please!"

"Well how are they gonna die?" asked the guy suspiciously. "Like, for real, die?"

Shane had an almost pained expression on his face as he spoke, eyes squeezed shut. "I got Amtrak to build a fake line into a military base, I got them to let us put shitloads of cash on the train, and then when you guys came after it TJ was going to say that you were wanted terrorists and to just kill you!"

"WHAT?!"

"They're gonna get fucking obliterated!" Shane gave him a desperate look, eyes wide. "Please let me out so I can stop this!"

"How could you do that?! Damn."

"I was mad, Adam! I was so fucking mad, I wasn't thinking straight!" _Or maybe I_ was _thinking straight, but now I'm not_.

"Okay, fuck. Wait." He returned seconds later, a key in hand. "Lemme see the cuffs. Steven!"

Steven skidded into the room almost instantly, eyes widening at the sight of the un-cuffed Shane. "Yo, what the fuck, Adam!"

"No, no, it's okay, he's helping us!"

"What?"

Shane headed for the door, all business, no play. "Do you guys have more than one car?"

"Yeah, two more. A rental van, and-"

"Get Andrew and get in it," said Shane sternly, pointing at Steven. "Let Andrew drive. Catch up with Ryan. And Kelsey. If they don't believe us on the phone, we'll need someone out there to stop them."

"I'll explain while you're driving," said Adam quietly, ushering the still-puzzled Steven towards Andrew's makeshift cell. "It makes sense, don't worry!"

They heard the van screech out only minutes later, the silence afterwards almost too heavy to breathe under. The phone was like a ticking bomb in his hand. What if there was no answer? Could they already be dead? Adam handed the phone to Shane, who shook his head, pushing it back towards him. 

" _You_ have to do the talking, idiot." _If there is any talking._

"Oh yeah. Oops." 

The phone was answered after the first few rings. Shane sighed with relief, leaning on the kitchen counter, eyes closed. Ryan was still alive. For now. He waited impatiently as Adam explained the situation, the insane plan that was so downright crazy it frightened him to think that it came from his own brain. He'd been so angry, angry enough to just want to kill the whole group. And he probably would've let it go ahead, if Ryan hadn't gone and did what he did. Shane paused in his thinking. Why exactly was he stopping this from happening? What did he hope to get out of it? That Ryan would be _so_ thankful for not letting him be peppered by the US military, even though it was Shane's idea in the first place? That they'd fall for each other all over again, and live happily ever after? Like that worked out so well last time, Madej. Ryan was a _criminal_. All of them were criminals.

Adam was a criminal.

A very wanted criminal. 

And a very, very alone criminal.

Shane raised his head to look at the guy chatting away on the phone without a care in the world. The enigma himself, standing five feet away. How many security systems had he disabled to let millions be robbed? How many times had he wiped incriminating CCTV footage? How many times had he deleted files from federal databases? How many times had he been a giant pain in the ass? Shane slowly turned his head to look back over his shoulder into the room he'd been locked in; yeah, the handcuffs still lay on the ground where Adam had dropped them. Huh. Rookie mistake. 

"Yeah, no, it's cool." Adam nodded, smiling. "Mmhmm. So you'll be back soon? Yeah, you might see Steven. Yeah. Bye."

He turned back, freezing as he saw Shane standing barely a few feet away, cuffs in hand, and a guilty look on his face from having been caught in the act of sneaking. Adam looked from him to the handcuffs and back again. Well, fuck it anyway. _That's what you get for getting involved in the real stuff, Bianchi. You should've just stayed technical!_

In minutes, he'd been bundled into their spare rental, for emergencies only. Well, this was a sort of emergency, he guessed. Just not one for his side. Shane sat in beside him, Sara got behind the wheel. And despite the tearing guilt in his chest, Shane encouraged her to drive faster. They had to get back and meet back with TJ, explain what happened. She eventually gave into the idea that Andrew could be retrieved later, that he was in no real danger as long as Steven was around. Shane rested an arm on the door, his hand covering his mouth as he stared out the window. He felt awful. He felt _evil_. Why, he wasn't quite sure. Or maybe he was. Or maybe his head was going to implode if he tried to sort through his thoughts for even a second longer. They were flying around his mind like so many pieces of paper in a gale force wind. _Shut up_ , he shouted at himself. _Shut up shut up shut up_.

* * *

Ryan sat on the steps for a long time. He could hear Kelsey and Steven panicking in the door behind him, trying to think of what to do next. Without Adam, everything was ten times more difficult. And Ryan just couldn't get his brain to work. He was too busy feeling like a giant fucking fool. Shane had messed him around as easily as he'd always done. Had Ryan not learnt anything at all in the six years apart? Had he not realized that Shane was a cunning, heartless bastard who cared about no one but himself? Ryan took a deep, trembling breath, elbows resting on his knees, hands linked behind his head. Is this what going insane felt like?

"Ryan, come on, man!" Steven crouched down beside him, placing a hand on his tense shoulder. "Fuck that guy. But we need Adam back. And we can't get him back without you."

"I know, I know." Ryan didn't raise his head. "Just give me a minute."

"We've given you, like, fifteen minutes, Ryan!" Kelsey appeared on his other side, her shadow falling over him. "You need to help us!"

 _What I need to do is strangle Madej with my bare hands_. "We have Andrew."

"And?"

"We'll trade."

"That won't work." Steven sounded almost worried, throwing an anxious look at the equally anxious Andrew tied up on the steps just beside Ryan. "It's too dangerous."

"Shane will have whatever place we choose absolutely swarming." Kelsey ran a hand through her hair, wincing as she accidentally pulled at a strand. "Look, guys, I think this is it."

Steven blinked. "Huh?"

"I think this is where we give in."

"No!" Ryan almost snarled the word, getting to his feet to glare at her. "No, I'm not giving in. We're not giving in. _Not_ to him."

"Relax, man!" Steven gave him a concerned look. "Maybe she's right. I can't think of how to get out of this."

"Shane won't trade us Adam for Andrew. Adam's worth everything to us. Andrew drives cars." She shrugged at the driver in question. "Sorry, dude."

He shrugged back. "Truth's a bitch sometimes."

"He will trade," said Ryan quietly. "Think about it. It's been a few hours, and not a single cop has shown up."

The two others frowned as they realized this was indeed true. Not even a siren had been heard.

"Shane wants me to go to him." Ryan felt physically ill at the words, instinctively placing a hand on his stomach, as if he might actually throw up. "I've humiliated him once too often. He'll want to take me down personally. I know it."

"That's a bit dramatic."

"He _is_ dramatic!" Ryan swallowed, moving into the hallway. "Get the car ready. We're going home."

"But- But you never gave us an actual plan!" called Kelsey after him.

"The actual plan is I meet with Madej, but only if I can choose the time and place. To make sure he's alone." He paused in the doorway, looking back over his shoulder at her. "He'll trade. I'm sure he will. One way or another."

Shane was showing cracks in his stone foundations. Yes, he'd taken Adam away, but he'd bothered to warn them about his very own plan. Something had made him change his mind, and that something was most definitely the kiss. He wasn't as emotionless about the whole situation as he was pretending. Ryan just had to get him unsettled enough, he had to get him to slip up. And he knew exactly how to go about doing this. _You're not as smooth as you think you are, Madej. You never were._


	11. Should I Stay Or Should I Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"It's always tease, tease, tease,_   
>  _You're happy when I'm on my knees,_   
>  _One day it's fine and next it's black,_   
>  _So if you want me off your back_   
>  _Well, come on and let me know_   
>  _Should I stay or should I go?"_

He waited for a few long moments outside the door. He still had the key, for some reason. He'd never thrown it away. It was a physical reminder of everything that had happened, the last one he had, which was probably why he'd kept it. Even though the memories weren't exactly fond ones. He'd let Ryan choose the meeting place, but if he'd known he'd pick _here_ , he wouldn't have. Why he'd even let Ryan choose the location in the first place was still baffling him. He'd felt _bad_. Like he'd betrayed him by taking Adam, which didn't make any sense at all. He was just doing his job, for God's sake. The key was cold in his hand, still nice and shiny, despite not being used in six years. He should've just gotten rid of it when he'd first left, but it was too hard. So it had remained with the rest of his keys, unused, but still there.

" _You in yet?_ "

Sara's voice buzzing in his ear made him jump. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I'm going in now."

The apartment still looked the same as when he'd left. The broken coffee table, the dent in the wall, even the few drops of blood from his nose when Ryan had first hit him. There was probably similar droplets all over the place. And there was Ryan himself, sitting at the small kitchen table, arms folded. He simply watched as Shane closed the door behind him. It was silence for a few long moments. Not that Shane would ever admit it, but he felt overwhelmed even being back in their apartment. Where everything had gone wrong.

"I thought you would've sold this," said Shane coolly, letting his gaze travel across the room that he'd never thought he'd have to see again. "I would've."

"It's important to have emergency accomodation in my line of business." He watched the detective closely as he crossed the room, warily. "I thought you would've thrown out your key."

"Mm. Forgot." Shane wandered around the room, the glass from the coffee table crunching under his feet as he got near. "You never got a new table?"

"No point."

Shane paused at the window; the lights in the apartment block across the road were so familiar, each and every one. "Why here?"

Ryan raised an eyebrow at him. "Hm?"

"Why did you pick here to meet?" Shane tried to keep his voice level, turning to look at him. "Of all places?"

"You don't sound too happy about it."

"You're up to something, Ryan." He moved towards him, pausing a few feet away, hands in his pockets. "And there's no point. Because I'm not here to try and strike a deal with you. I'm here to give you and your friends a chance to just hand yourselves over, without all the dramatics."

Ryan stared at him, face unreadable. "And why would I agree to that?"

"Because you've lost, Ryan!" Shane moved to the table, leaning across it to glare at him. He was sick of all of it, he was sick of having to see Ryan on an almost daily basis without being allowed to- to _do_ anything. "You put up a hell of a fight but you've lost, okay? So just give up already."

"I'm not handing myself over, Shane!" replied Ryan heatedly, getting to his feet, not taking his eyes from the taller man's. "I lose when there's a damn bullet in my head. And that's that."

"Hopefully it won't come to that." His voice was quiet, dangerously so. "No matter how tempting it might be."

Ryan took a deep, calming breath. _Focus, Bergara_. "Are you wearing a wire?"

A pause while he debated whether or not to even tell the truth. "Yes."

"Who's listening?"

Another pause. "Sara and TJ."

"That's the truth?"

"That's the truth." And for once it actually was.

Ryan watched him with a serious look on his face. “Why do you need a wire, hm? You think you’re in danger?”

" _It's so I can make sure you keep your hands to yourself_ , _Shane_ ," came Sara's voice, openly-disapproving. He'd told her about the kiss. He'd gone against the age-old rule and told her what had happened in Vegas. " _There better be more than five feet between you two right now_."

He ignored her, and TJ's giggles in the background. "Well, am I in danger?"

"Maybe."

"Then there you go." He straightened up again, hands on his hips. "So where’s Andrew?”

“He’s around," replied Ryan vaguely. "Where’s Adam?”

Shane shrugged. “In a cell a few blocks down.”

"Right. And you’re not going to trade?”

Shane snorted, seeing the look of irritation flicker across Ryan's face. “No, because I’m not a fucking idiot. You guys can’t function without Bianchi.”

“So you won’t trade Andrew for Adam…" he said slowly, a mock-thoughtful look on his face as he circled the table to face the detective. "But would you trade Andrew’s life for Adam?”

Shane paused. “What?”

“Well, you’re right," shrugged the shorter man. "We can’t function without Adam. So if you don’t give him over, we’ve lost, and we might as well just blow Andrew’s head off, right?”

Shane simply smiled, almost fondly, like Ryan was a child threatening to kill him with a wooden sword. “You wouldn’t.”

“No, I wouldn't.” Ryan moved towards him again, one hand brushing along the table. "But Kelsey would. Because she's pretty mad about losing out on all that train money."

Shane took a step closer in retaliation; he had to remain cool, confident, even if he could hear Sara and TJ panicking in his ear. “And how would she know when to do this?”

“How do you think?"

Shane's gaze quickly flitted down Ryan's white t-shirt, and back to his face. "You're not wearing a wire. So she's watching us."

"Wow, you really _are_ a detective."

Shane didn't turn away to look out the window; it would take him way too long to locate her in the hundreds of windows across the road. "Couldn't figure out how to get a wire to work without Bianchi, no?"

Ryan gave a dry smile. "No, actually. But we managed."

"I'm sure." Shane tilted his head back, looking down his nose at him. "So what you're proposing is that I give you Bianchi in return for Ilnyckyj, and then what?"

"Then you fuck off."

He laughed, as if he'd just been told an hilarious joke. "Yeah, no. That's not going to happen. None of it will, actually."

Ryan sighed wearily, taking out his phone. "Yeah, that's what I thought your reaction would be. So I'm just gonna send a quick-"

Shane suddenly lashed out, grabbing hold of the phone and Ryan's hand with it, pushing them down. Ryan's other hand shoved into his chest to try and push him away, Shane grabbing a tight hold of his wrist, all in a matter of seconds. They stared at each other, both equally on edge. Ryan's eyes darted to look at the wire peeking out between the buttons on Shane's shirt, back up to his eyes, lingering on his mouth for only half a second too long. 

"Give me the phone," said Shane in a low voice, feeling Ryan's hand give a small wiggle in his grip, the phone clenched tightly. "Give it over, Ryan."

"No," replied Ryan just as darkly, feeling the taller man's heart racing under his hand. 

"Steven won't let Andrew get hurt," said Shane firmly. "I know he won't."

"There's a limit for everything, Shane. Even liking someone." He gave a dry smile. "I thought you'd know that, of all people."

"You must've been real mad when I left," said the detective quietly, hearing Sara humming a warning in his ear. "How did that feel? It must've _hurt_ , man. A lot."

"I got over it."

"Did you?"

Ryan paused before giving him a meaningful smile. "Oh, pretty quickly."

The puzzled frown vanished almost instantly as Shane realized what he was implying. "Who was he?"

He could feel Shane's grip on his wrist tighten noticeably as he spoke. "She."

"Ah. Alright."

"And I'm not telling you."

"So I know her?" He looked... He looked _mad_. Ryan swallowed under the intensity of his gaze. "Kelsey?"

"Hell no."

"Quinta?"

"I'm not telling you."

"Helen?"

"I'm. Not. Saying." He gave a small smile, a bare hint of one. "Why are you so adamant to know? Are you _jealous_ , Madej?"

"I'm allowed to be jealous," said Shane through gritted teeth, ignoring Sara telling him to calm down, to get back on track. "And I am."

" _You_ left _me,_ asI've _-"_

"Not jealous of _you_ , Ryan. Jealous of whoever you were with."

Ryan blinked at this. He was pretty sure his heart skipped multiple beats. "What?"

" _Shane, how close are you guys standing?_ " Sara's voice was panicked. " _I can hear Ryan's voice loud and clear, dude. Space, remember?_ "

He couldn't. He was unjustifiably angry at the fact that someone else had been with Ryan, had touched him, had done everything he used to do. And he was downright furious at how Ryan had just had the fucking audacity to just- to just _move on_. "Was it serious?"

"Serious enough."

"How soon. How soon after I left."

"Soon enough."

Shane took a deep breath, seeing the glint in Ryan's big eyes as he did so. "You're lying."

"I'm not." 

"Why didn't you tell me sooner then?"

"Because I knew you'd react badly," replied Ryan flippantly, tilting his head back as Shane moved against him. "I just didn't think you'd be so  _jealous_. That's cute."

" _Shane, enough. Remember what he's done, what you guys went through!"_ Sara's voice was desperate, but there's no use talking sense to a brick wall.

The taller man finally let go of him, hearing the phone clatter to the floor as he did so, but he didn't care. Neither of them did. "What's cute is you trying to act all cool even though _you're_ the one who kissed _me_ literally last night. _"_

Ryanbit his lip hard, keeping his eyes focused on Shane's even though he could see Kelsey almost dancing in the window of the apartment across the road, waving her arms to try and distract him. "Which I very much regret doing, by the way." Mainly because he hadn't stopped thinking about it since. "If I could take it back, I would." A blatant lie.

"I wish you hadn't done it either," said Shane quietly; it was TJ in his ear now, snapping at him to stop, it's not funny, you're fucking up, stop it! "But I also wish you'd do it again."

"How much?" Ryan watched as Shane took the obviously-irritating source of the voices of reason from his ear, dropping it to the ground and stepping on it. It crunched under his foot. "A lot, huh?"

"And you don't?" The taller man felt Ryan's hands before he saw them, opening the top few buttons of his shirt, taking out the small wire and letting it fall to the floor alongside the remains of the earpiece. "Yeah. I thought so."

Ryan could almost hear Kelsey screaming at him to stop as her and Steven banged on the apartment window across the street, black silhouettes against the yellow light. A third person joined them; Andrew. He jumped in alarm before joining their panicked attempt to get the two men to stop, to not go right back to square one. But even though their flailing was distracting, Shane's hands cupping his face were even more so. Ryan's eyes fluttered closed as he was drawn into a deep kiss, Shane's mouth pressed to his, a passion that had been barely-contained for six years, bubbling under the surface the entire time. For a moment, Ryan thought his heart was going to jump out of his chest it was beating so hard, so fast. The broken glass from the coffee table crunched as Shane roughly maneuvered him back towards the couch, still kissing him harshly, hungrily, barely letting him catch his breath. Ryan gripped the front of the taller man's shirt, pushing him down onto the couch, straddling him, kissing him, half his mind screaming at him to stop, the other half thinking of nothing but the feeling of Shane's hands slipping under his shirt, running up his sides.

His phone buzzed on the ground where he'd let it fall; Kelsey. He ignored it, he ignored everything but Shane's mouth on his, their tongues brushing, Shane moaning mid-kiss as Ryan pushed himself against him, their bodies flush together. The phone buzzed again; Steven.

"Fucking hell." Shane pushed Ryan aside, taking the phone off the ground and going to the window. He impatiently shoved it open, flinging the device out into the street below.

"What the fuck, Shane? I only got that a few-" His complaint was abruptly cut off by the very man he was complaining to, and for once he was okay with it.

He let Shane push him onto his back, the kisses swiftly moving to his neck. Ryan's fingers tightened in Shane's tousled hair as the taller man's mouth worked against his skin, forcing an almost-pained sounding moan from his mouth. He was breathing heavily, he could feel Shane's chest heaving against his, it was all too much but not enough at the same time. It was too harsh, not harsh enough, too rough, not rough enough, too hot, too cold, too wrong. It was all this and none of it, even as they went further, too far.

The one thing it _definitely_ wasn't was the closure Ryan had been hoping for. It was the exact opposite, actually.

But Shane broke off before he did, turning his head away, eyes squeezed shut. "Fuck. I can't. I mean, I _could_. I definitely would. But- But-"

"I know. I know. Me neither." Ryan sat upright, Shane doing the same beside him. "It feels... I don't know." It felt good, but in a bad way. Like breaking a promise to yourself.

For a long moment they simply sat, staring at the remains of the glass coffee table. It was a stark reminder of why they definitely shouldn't do what they had been about to do. Shane ran a hand through his hair, refusing to look at the man sitting beside him; he still wasn't quite sure if he could stop himself from kissing him again, from just ignoring his sane mind and going right back to the beginning. He could see Ryan wringing his hands, clearly just as troubled, his knee bouncing. He had always made his feelings ten times more clear than Shane ever had. It was admirable, in a way. To just bare everything. To make yourself vulnerable like that. To not keep your facial expressions, your gestures in check all the time. 

Shane swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. "You want to know what the worst thing about you was?"

Ryan didn't look at him; what was coming was certainly going to be an insult of some kind, and he needed to calm down. "What?"

“How no matter what I did to you, no matter how much I hurt you, you were still there." Shane swallowed again. "Always. It was sickening, really. Because I knew how much you liked me but-”

"I think I loved you."

 _Woah_. Shane finally turned his head to look at him, but Ryan's eyes were watching something else entirely. "Really?"

"Yeah." Ryan was silent, biting down on his lip. “In my own... In my own weird way, I think I actually loved you. I just didn’t want to. I think that’s what really drove me crazy, in the end. I loved you but my mind just wouldn’t accept it.”

Shane stared at him, wondering if he’d ever witnessed a feeling be put so perfectly into words. “But you never asked me to come back.”

A silence. “Would you have?”

He thought about it for a moment. He really thought about it. “Yes. Yes, I think I would have. I think I was stupid enough back then.”

“Then it’s good that I didn’t.”

“Yeah. It is.” He pushed himself to his feet, rubbing a weary hand down his face, the other on his hip. "We were a mess, weren't we?"

"Yeah." Ryan hesitated before saying what he wanted to say; this was unfamiliar territory they were on, and it felt like it could flip at even the slightest misunderstanding, the slightest change in tone. "I was gonna change for you, Shane. I really was."

Shane shook his head, turning back to face him. "No. You're just saying that now because you feel bad."

"I was just waiting-" Ryan swallowed despite the painful lump in his throat. "I was just waiting on one last job. It would've made sure we'd never be stuck. Financially."

"Ryan, stop. Don't start saying stuff like that."

"It's the truth, Shane." He was willing the taller man to look him in the eye, to stop pacing. "I really liked you. I did."

"Ryan, stop it. Please."

"You just never gave me a chance." He got to his feet, watching Shane grow increasingly agitated at his words. "You just assumed I'd never _listen_ to you. But you just went off on whatever crazy path you'd been carving out for us."

"That's a lie!" Shane stopped pacing, turning to glare at him. "You played your part, Ryan. You were just as bad as I was."

"You really hurt me when you left, Shane." His voice sounded strained, shaky. "Because even though we were a disaster, I still thought that maybe we could work something out. I thought-"

"Ryan, shut up!" He was shouting, hands tangled in his hair. "Shut up!"

"Why?"

"Because if that's true then everything we went through was for nothing!" He sounded almost panicked, fumbling for words. "Every single fight! Every stupid argument! If we can agree that it was always going to go nowhere then it all makes sense but if there was even the _slightest_ chance we could've worked something out, it was all just for nothing!" 

"But you never asked!"

“I didn’t know what to do, Ryan!”

The shorter man looked at him, a puzzled expression on his face. “What does that even mean?”

“I’m not an easy person to be around, okay? I know that." Shane sat down on the arm of the couch, arms folded across his chest. He couldn't seem to look anywhere but at the floor. "I- I can be so mean, and I can be such an asshole that I surprise even myself sometimes, and you’re the first person who ever just stayed anyway! And when you turned around and said that we weren’t even together I- Something just snapped in me. I don’t know how to describe it." He was flushing slightly, still avoiding his gaze. "I know I acted badly I know I was a damn monster but I didn’t mean to be! I really liked you, Ryan. I liked you so fucking much and I’ve never been so hurt in my entire life than when you turned around and said that.”

Ryan stood in silence for a long while, unsure of how exactly to respond. He felt bad, but if there's one thing he was determined about it was that he wasn't going to apologize for anything until Shane did. Anything. "That's probably the most truthful you've ever been in front of me. Ever."

"Well yeah, Ryan. It's not exactly easy to open up to someone who once gave me a black eye during an argument about whether or not ghosts are real." He stood back up, arms still folded, closed off. "I know you thought you were so easy to talk to, but you weren't, okay?"

"You could've tried harder."

" _You_ could've tried harder, Ryan!" 

"We both could've tried harder!" He realized he was shouting, they were both shouting, a sound the neighbors were downright stunned to be hearing again. "But as a matter of interest, do you think we could've worked it out?"

Shane blinked at this sudden change in direction. "Do I think what?"

“Do you think we could’ve stayed us?" He still sounded irritated, but more frustrated than before. A painful mix of anger and confusion. "If we’d really tried?”

Shane looked at him for a long moment, quiet. “Do you?”

Ryan was silent, finally shaking his head, eyes closed. “No.”

“No. I don’t either.” A wave of relief suddenly washed over him, so sudden it shocked him. “I think we would’ve ended, for one reason or another.”

“Yeah. I think so too.”

Shane took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Well, there it is, I guess."

"Yeah."

"Looks like we finally agreed on something."

Ryan's smile vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. "What about Adam and Andrew?"

Oh, for God's sake. Their five minute conversation had exhausted him, and he really didn't feel like getting back to business quite so soon. "I said it at the beginning, and I'll say it again. I'm not here to trade, I'm here to give you a chance to just hand yourself over."

"And if I don't want that chance?"

Shane closed his eyes, exhaling long and loud. "You always want things to end with a bang, don't you?"

"It ended on your terms last time, Shane." Ryan went to walk past him, a determined look on his face. "It's ending on mine this time."

Before he noticed what he was doing, Shane grabbed the shorter man as he passed, a hand tight around his arm. He wasn't sure why. He wasn't sure what he intended to do. Ryan stood stiff, looking up at him, waiting.

"It's still so fucking annoying," he said quietly, not taking his eyes from Ryan's face. "Because I still want to just- to just kiss you. And I don't know why."

Ryan didn't speak; if he did, he wasn't sure what he'd say, what he'd do. So he just gave him a lingering look, and left.

* * *

"No, no, no, he's coming out." Kelsey kicked open the car door, gesturing at him to get in. "What the hell, Ryan? Did you just go in there to fuck?"

"What? No!" He looked like he was telling the truth, but he also looked... perturbed. Uncomfortable. "No, we didn't do anything."

"Good. That's good." Steven turned in the driver's seat, an arm across the passenger one, in which Andrew sat patiently. "So what's the end result, huh? Do we get Adam back?"

"Or do I have to pop a cap in Andrew's ass?" added Kelsey, grinning at the warning frown from the man in question. 

"As I said, we aren't shooting Andrew," said Steven firmly, fixing her with a moody scowl. 

"Thank you, Steven. I mean, I'm not even really involved." Andrew shrugged, wondering if the car door was open. Not that it had been the last seventeen times he tried. "I just drove them places."

"So what was the end result of your 'conversation' then, huh?" asked Kelsey, turning back to raise an eyebrow at the pensive Ryan.

 _A not-quite-satisfying closure_. "Nothing. He said he didn't come to try and negotiate anything. He came to tell us that we can either give up now or... or I don't know."

"Or you don't know?"

"He didn't specify." He took a deep breath, exhaling forcefully. "Look, we split up tonight. Stay low. And let me think."

Steven gave him a wide-eyed look. "And if a cop busts in at whatever time and arrests one of us?"

Ryan shrugged. "The usual. Ask for a warrant, ask for a lawyer, and then just stay quiet."

"That won't work half as well without Adam! He's the one who'd alter all our stuff!" Steven started the car, pulling away from the apartments he and Kelsey and Andrew had been hiding out in. "We're really risking it this time, Ryan. But if you think we can do it, then I trust you, dude."

"Me too," said Kelsey firmly. "We're with you, Ryan."

"I'm not," said Andrew dryly. "I want to go home."

Steven grinned at him. "You can kip with me tonight, dude! Sleepover club."

Andrew tried to hide his smile, staring straight ahead. "Yippee."

Ryan didn't smile, or laugh, or even chuckle. He just stared out the window as they drove, chin resting in his hand as he thought. Adam was a necessity, yes. And there was no way Shane was going to give him back, not now. Not ever. But maybe he could steal him back, force Shane's hand. All he needed was Shane's address, which he was pretty sure Adam had somewhere in his apartment, along with the addresses of anyone who had ever been a threat to them. For in case things ever got personal.

And boy, this was almost exclusively personal by now. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next one's the last chapter btw hnnnnnnn


	12. Go Your Own Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"Loving you isn't the right thing to do,_   
>  _How can I ever change things_   
>  _That I feel?_   
>  _If I could maybe I'd give you my world,_   
>  _How can I_   
>  _When you won't take it from me?"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this gets a bit violent... and it's not a happy ending just to let you know. like it's not a neat ending. don't get excited

Shane positively dragged himself into his apartment, hand fumbling for the lights. He felt exhausted. Physically, mentally, emotionally drained. And it had been a few weeks since he'd last talked to Ryan. Actually talked. And he still couldn't stop _thinking_ about him. Not the pleasant sort, either. The type that lingered under every other thought you had, constantly there in the background, chipping away at your sanity. He could slowly feel himself slipping, back to the way he used to be when he had been with Ryan. Crazily, sickenly infatuated.

He moved into the dark kitchen, shrugging off his jacket, chucking it onto the table. His hand remained frozen in the air. No, no, he said he wouldn't come back. He promised.

His voice was quiet, weak. "Ryan?"

The shorter man got to his feet, his figure silhouetted again the cool light from the window. "You left your spare key in the plant pot. You said you wouldn't."

A pause. "Why did you check?"

"Because I'm a fucking idiot."

Shane could just about see his face in the dull light from the hall. "Get- You have to get out of my apartment. Now."

Ryan looked tired, just as tired as he was. His hair was ruffled, his face unshaven, dark circles under his eyes. "I can't-" He paused, as if the words had caught in his throat. "I can't do this anymore."

But even as he spoke he was closing the space between himself and Shane, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him into a hard kiss. That was the furthest the talking ever went. Shane dropped his keys, the metal clattering against the floor, his hands clutching at the shorter man, fistfuls of his shirt between his fingers. The heat from Ryan's body was both comforting and unbearable. There was almost a look of physical pain on Shane's face as he continued kissing him back, their movements growing fiercer, harder. They stumbled back against the kitchen table, their bodies pressed together, able to feel every single move the other made.

This had started the night after their little chat in their old apartment. Ryan had let himself into Shane's one - the guy had always left a spare key in the potted plant outside - and really did just intend to try and settle whatever was going down. Make an offer that would somehow let Adam be free but also keep Shane off their backs for the foreseeable future. But it had gone down how it always tended to; a big, fiery mess. What he hadn't really expected was for them to go a step too far. And they took that step. Multiple times that night. And every night since.

Shane always felt guilty after. Guilty, dirty, but always satisfied. That was the worst thing; the sex was good, really fucking good. No, no, that wasn't the worst thing, actually. The worst thing was trying to hide it from his co-workers.

"They've been quiet for a while, haven't they?" said TJ suspiciously only the day before, as they were getting ready to quit. "Hiding out?"

Shane looked at him, nodding sincerely. "Yeah, must be. They've folded without Bianchi."

"Andrew transferred yesterday." Sara joined them at the door, a look of concern on his face. "He came in the door like nothing had even happened. Just told me he was transferring to Philadelphia and left."

"Yeah, I heard." Shane guessed that he'd made some private deal with Steven, which could only mean that Ryan was losing control over his team just as much as he was over his. "Something must've happened. Just keep an eye out for now, I guess."

"You're very vague recently, Shane." She frowned at him as the three of them went down the steps outside the station, side by side. "Is everything okay?"

He raised his eyebrows at her in feigned surprise. "What? No, everything's fine. Just a bit tired."

"Not sleeping well, huh?" TJ shrugged. "Me neither. It was a tense few months, man. And it could start up again at any minute."

"The second one of them pokes their head out, we gotta strike," said Sara with a karate-chop gesture to accompany the idea. "Take them out, quick."

"Mm." Shane nodded, unable to look either of them in the eye. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Then he'd gone home, and Ryan had been there, and he had already known what was going to happen. The shorter man hadn't even said anything, just pushed him back against the door he had literally just closed, and kissed him. And each time he wanted to say no, which was every time, it was just too damn _hard_. He couldn't stop himself. So much so that it scared him. It was downright torturous.

Even now, the thoughts were just driving him batshit crazy. And there was only one person around to take it out on. He shoved Ryan back against the fridge, hard enough for the contents to rattle, for the shorter man's head to hit back against it. Ryan barely had time to give a sharp gasp before Shane's mouth was on his, the anger, the rancour unbridled. They broke off, Shane's hands pressed to the cool fridge either side of Ryan's head, the shorter man tugging at his shirt buttons. Their faces were still touching, lips inches apart, breathing heavily, erratically. It was stupid. But it was _exciting_. That was the thing that always seemed to get them, it seemed. When they weren't supposed to be doing it, it only made the whole affair hotter.

"I need-" Ryan closed his eyes as Shane's lips pressed against his, their mouths working against each other, tongues brushing. His breathing was almost pained as Shane pulled his head to one side, running fierce, hungry kisses down his neck. " _Fuck_. I- I need you. Now." Another trembling breath, a curse, right in Shane's ear. His grip tightened in the taller man's hair as the kisses trailed along the line of his jaw, forcing a moan from his lips. "Just fucking- Holy _fuck_."

* * *

"That's definitely Madej's place?"

"Mmhmm." Steven folded his arms across his chest, leaning back in the driver's seat. "The pair of sluts."

"Hey, no slut-shaming here, Steven." Kelsey leaned forwards to look up at the apartment in question. "Just regular shaming. Honestly, I don't know which one is stupider. I think it's Shane."

"Oh? Why?"

"He's a cop, Steven. And a good one at that." She sat back in her seat, sighing heavily. "He'll be fired quicker than you can say 'boo'. He'll probably be suspected as an accomplice! And there won't be no transferring for him, unlike _some_ people."

Steven shrugged. "Andrew wasn't really on their _team_. I thought it was fair."

"And what is Ryan thinking?" She shook her head in stunned silence. "He's meant to be the brains here. Now we have no brains and no tech. It's just you and me. The driver and the... the girl?"

"We can't operate heists with just a driver and..." He trailed off. "What do you do, actually?"

"I'm not sure." She thought for a moment. "Well, Ryan's the point man, clearly. You're the driver. Adam was the tech guy. I'm..." Her eyes lit up. "Oh my God, I'm Faceman!"

Steven stared at her. "Are you talking about the A-Team right now?"

"Yeah!" She counted it off on her fingers. "Ryan's Hannibal, yeah? You're Murdock. I'm Faceman!"

"But that would mean Adam is Mr T," replied Steven slowly. "And that just doesn't add up."

"Oh. Oh, yeah. I- Fuck, fuck, turn off the lights!"

Steven did so instantly, the two of them slinking lower in their seats. "What? What is it?"

"It's that curly-haired cop. Sara. And I think their tech guy is with her."

It was indeed. The two of them parked up on the curb, getting out, their doors slamming. Kelsey and Steven shared open-mouthed looks of excitement as the two cops headed towards the apartments, clearly with no idea of what was awaiting them inside. Steven put a hand out to keep Kelsey in her seat, shaking his head. It'd be fun to ruin Shane, but it wouldn't be half as fun to ruin themselves along with it. Anyway, he had a better idea.

* * *

Shane's eyes flew open at the sound of the impatient knocks on the door, feeling Ryan freeze on top of him. Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no.

"Shane!" It was Sara, sounding very excited indeed. "Shane, we got news!"

"Uh- Uh, one minute!" He pushed Ryan off him, the shorter man looking completely terrified. "Gimme a second!"

Shane scrambled over the back of the couch, grabbing hold of the window and pushing it up. The fire escape was a bit of an awkward climb to get onto, but not half as awkward as it would be if Sara and TJ caught him with Ryan. He fumbled to button up his shirt, nodding at the window as he passed by Ryan, who was hurriedly pulling his jumper back on over his head.

"What?" hissed Ryan, fixing his jumper. "I'm not climbing out the damn window, Shane. What if I fall?"

"Then you take care of a hell of a lot of my problems."

Ryan tutted, turning away. "I'm gonna hide in here."

"No. No you're not." Shane moved back into the dark sitting room, glaring at the shadowy figure of the shorter man. "Window. Now."

"No," replied Ryan just as sharply. "I'm not risking my life for you, asshole."

"A fall from that height won't kill you, Ryan. It might just hurt you a lot." Shane's voice was dry. "Which is what'll happen anyway, if you stay in here."

"Yeah, well, between you and gravity, there's only one I can punch in the face if they try to hurt me." 

"Hey, Shane!" It was TJ now, banging on the door. "Open up, it's the police!"

"Coming!" Shane stayed in the doorway, glaring into the dark room. "You stay in here, and you stay hidden. And if you even breathe too loudly, I'll kill you."

Ryan didn't reply. It seemed he was hidden already, probably under some piece of dust somewhere. Shane attempted to smooth down his hair before opening the door, giving TJ and Sara a tired smile. They grinned back, clearly very excited.

"Guess what?" began TJ, almost jumping up and down on the spot. "Adam's going to prison, dude! The amount of illegal gear they found in his apartment was _staggering_."

"That's- That's great!" God, he hoped Ryan couldn't hear. "But why couldn't you guys just ring me?"

"Because we're gonna go out!" replied Sara brightly, moving to step into the apartment. "We- Woah, okay. What's up?"

He had involuntarily put an arm out to block her way, a tad more aggressive than he'd intended. "Oh, sorry. I just... I'm tired, y'know. I was asleep."

"In your clothes?"

"...Yeah."

"So you're not gonna come out with us?" asked TJ with a pout. "Come on, Shane. You seem tense, dude, you should loosen up."

 _You can say that again_. "I just need a good rest. Tonight."

"Alright." Sara gave him an odd look, a slight frown on her face. "Guess we'll see you on Monday then."

"Yeah. See you then."

He sighed heavily when he'd closed the door, leaning forwards against it. Really, he couldn't believe he'd just blown off his two friends for Ryan. That should've rang some alarm bells, but he was too busy starting back up again with Ryan to hear them. They picked up where they'd left off, only a bit more excited from their near-discovery. Shane could feel the old familiar feeling bubbling up in his chest again, the self-loathing that he'd inevitably take out on Ryan. He hated this, he hated all of it, but he loved it twice as much.

* * *

It was near morning. The sun filtered through the grey clouds, throwing a cool light through the window and across the bedroom. Ryan sat on the edge of the bed with his head resting in his hands, his fingers gripping his hair hard enough to hurt. He felt angry. He felt sad. He felt bitter. He felt _sick_. Most of all he was just disappointed in himself. He heard Shane give a sleepy mutter, face buried in the pillow. God, he hated him. He hated him with every single fiber of his being, but here he was. Just like every other day. Ryan rubbed his tired eyes. The discrepancy between his head and his heart was astounding, really.

Ryan got to his feet, moving towards the door, eyes widening as he saw his reflection in the mirror. "Oh no. Oh no no no _no_."

"Mm?" Shane lifted his head to scowl at him. "What?"

The hickeys were unmissable, smeared along the side of his neck. Ryan rubbed at them in a panic, looking at his hand as if they could come off like paint.

"What is it, Ryan?" He sat upright, reaching for his shirt. "Just spit it out."

"Look what you did, you fucking idiot!"

Shane shrugged, starting to get dressed. "Get over it, I guess."

"You're an absolute-" His insult was replaced by a frustrated shout as he turned away, storming out into the living. "Don't leave your key in the plant tonight. Don't."

"Well why don't you just not come and check if it's there?" replied Shane coolly, standing in the doorway. "That's a better idea to me."

Ryan gritted his teeth in irritation, pausing as if to say something, before deciding to skip the argument this time. He was too exhausted. He had to stop doing this, before it literally killed him. So he just threw Shane a look brimming with resentment before leaving, slamming the door behind him.

"Stupid fucker," muttered Ryan as he crossed the street, rubbing at his neck with his sleeve. "God dammit."

The loud, drawn-out honk made him jump a mile, letting out a frightened yelp. His eyes stayed wide even as he saw who it was; Kelsey and Steven, lurking in Steven's car, just a few feet away. They looked anything but impressed, Kelsey with her arms folded, Steven tapping rhythmically on the steering wheel as he scowled at him. _Fuck_. Ryan reluctantly went to the window that Kelsey was rolling down, his eyes landing on the empty takeout containers.

"What the- How long have you guys been here?" he asked in disbelief. "Have you been here all night?"

"Maybe," replied Steven defensively, leaning over Kelsey to glare at him. "Get in."

He hesitated before doing so; there was no real point in running away, and they looked mad enough to just drive over him, anyway. "First off, I just want to say that no one is more disappointed in me than me."

"Are you stupid, or just insane?" Kelsey turned in her seat to glare at him. "After everything? After _everything_?!"

He closed his eyes, burying his head in his hands. He didn't speak.

"Shane has basically tortured you for how many years now?" Steven sounded just as angry, and this was a rare emotion to be heard from him. "And you've just gone right back to square one."

"No, no, it's not like that," said Ryan slowly, his voice muffled by his hands. "It's... It's only sex."

"It's only sex?!" Kelsey shook her head in astonishment. "You're meant to be the brains here, man. But it turns out you're a massive idiot! Shane is _poisonous_ , Ryan!"

"I know!" he replied, almost a shout. "I know. I don't know." His voice was suddenly weak, feeble. "I can't... It's hard. To stop."

"How long have you been doing this?" she demanded. "How long?"

He looked at her through his fingers, eyes big and round. "...Two weeks."

"Two weeks."

"Give or take."

"Two weeks give or take." She shook her head again. "You absolute tool. What if he gets bored of you, huh? What if one day he just decides that he's had his fun, and it's time for you to go to prison?"

Ryan was quiet for a long moment. "I don't know."

"Well we've sorted that out for you," replied Steven, still scowling at him through the rear view mirror. "You're going to go back in there. You're going to tell Shane to get us all acquitted - even Adam - or you'll spill about all the little midnight meetings you guys have been having."

Ryan blinked. "I- What?! No. I can't do that."

"You have the upper hand here, Ryan." Kelsey gave him a stern look, pointing a firm finger at him. "You're in control. For the first time probably ever. If he says no, you could have him ruined. Forever."

He stared at her, slowly lifting his head from his hands. Shane thought he'd won, that was clear. To be honest, Ryan had also thought he'd won. He hadn't seen any way out of it, with Adam gone. And being able to just snatch this victory right from under Shane's nose... The thought was absolutely  _delicious_. "I... I still don't know if I can. If I can do it."

"What if we told you Adam's in prison?"

So he _had_ heard those cops right. God, even just imagining the poor guy in a cell had him feeling absolutely terrible. Adam wouldn't survive in a prison, he wouldn't last two days.

Ryan straightened up, looking from one to the other. "I'll do it."

* * *

Shane answered the door after a few minute's knocking, a cup of coffee in hand. The look of surprise quickly turned to confusion, and then to suspicion. "What are you doing here? It's the middle of the day."

"I just think we should have a chat," replied Ryan lightly, hands on his hips. "A quick one."

"If 'chat' is a code word for something else, then yes. But if you're serious, then no."

Ryan didn't reply, moving into the apartment, the taller man stepping back to make way before closing the door. He moved into the kitchen, hearing Shane right behind him, placing the cup of coffee down. Ryan turned around to see that Shane had sat down, legs crossed, an arm resting on the back of the chair as he smiled at him. Ryan quickly tore his gaze away, before he did anything stupid, which is what he usually did. And Shane liked that. He liked to make Ryan come to him.

"Before you get the wrong idea," said Ryan, his voice firm. "I actually am just here for a chat."

The smile dropped. "Hm. I suppose you can go, then."

"It's a very important chat," continued Ryan casually, arms folded across his chest as he leaned back against the sink. "I think you'll want to take part."

Shane rolled his eyes. "Enough with the dramatics, Bergara. Just get on with it."

"I have a little offer for you."

"Here we go again."

"Oh, you won't be able to say no to this one." He smiled. "You literally won't."

Shane's eyes met his, an eyebrow raised. "I see. I guess it's more of an ultimatum, then."

"Call it whatever you want, Madej. It's the end of the road for you." 

Shane looked at him from under heavy lids, an altogether unimpressed look. "Mm. Sure."

Well, might as well get straight into it. "You get all suspicions of me, Steven, and Kelsey wiped away. And you get Adam acquitted."

The silence lasted for all of half a minute before Shane burst out laughing, his hair bouncing as he shook his head. "You're hilarious, Ryan. Really, you are."

"I'm serious."

Shane was still smiling as he leaned back in his chair. "And why the hell would I do that?"

"Because otherwise I'll turn up to the station," replied Ryan coolly. "And tell everyone about every single rendezvous we've had for the past two weeks."

The death stare reached Shane's eyes before it affected the rest of his face, the smile slowly faltering. "You- You wouldn't. I'll just deny it."

"You know that won't work, Shane." He let his voice drip with mock-pity, seeing the taller man begin to panic. "So what's your answer, hm?"

"You can't- You won't do it." He got to his feet, eyes fixed on the shorter man's. "You do that, and we're over. For good this time."

Ryan felt an unexpected jerk in his chest at this words, but he managed to ignore it, shoving it away. "Adam's in prison."

"Where he belongs. Where all you idiots belong." His eyes lit up, making Ryan frown. "How about this: I end this before you do, you rot in jail for the rest of your life, and I continue living my life. How does that sound?"

"I don't see how that would work, exactly."

"All I have to do is ring before you do," shrugged Shane, hands on his hips. "I'll make something up. You can say what you want, but if I ring first, I win."

"It's all about winning with you, isn't it?" demanded Ryan, stepping forwards. He could see Shane's phone on the kitchen table, just a bit closer to the taller man than it was to him. "You always wanted to win. Everything. The entire time we were together."

"And that was all so one-sided, was it?" Shane's voice was low, furious. "You hit me first, Ryan. You _hit_ me. You're the one who really started us off. Not me."

"I hit you because you were being an asshole!" shouted Ryan, so angry it almost hurt. "You made me!"

"Do you realize how fucked up that sounds? I _made_ _you_ punch me in the face?" He was shouting now too, pointing accusingly at the man across from him. "And what if I hadn't fought back, huh? You would've just kept doing it, is that it? I would've _made_ _you_ keep beating the shit out of me everyday?" 

"You're twisting it! You always twist it!"

"Not this time, Ryan." His spoke through gritted teeth. "This time it's the truth."

Oh God, he felt sick to his stomach. "So you- So you just expected me to keep taking your shit, is that it? To just live with your lies, and your deceit, and your other fucking shit?"

"If you wanted to end it, you should've just ended it, Ryan! Was your plan always to resort to physical abuse, huh?" He could see Ryan moving towards the phone on the table, but he didn't take his eyes from Shane's. "You fucked me up, Ryan. I was _different_ when we finished. I wasn't _me_ anymore."

"Neither was I!" He was still edging towards the phone, not exactly subtle. "Get back."

"Don't touch that phone."

"Back off, Shane."

"I am serious, Ryan, don't you fucking dare touch it." He was breathing heavily, eyes locked with Ryan's as he moved forwards. "Don't."

As expected, Ryan ignored him. They went for it at the same time, Shane simply swiping at it, sending it flying off the table and across the floor seconds before Ryan's hand slammed down when it had just been. The hand came back up instantly, tangling in Shane's hair before violently dashing his head down off the table. He cursed, dropping to one knee, dazed. He grabbed out blindly at Ryan before the guy could move away, the shorter man slipping on the tiles, falling heavily to his hands and knees. Ryan twisted onto his back as Shane scrambled on top, shoving a hand into Shane's face, pushing his head back at an awkward angle. Shane fought to get the hand away, Ryan quickly slipping an arm around his neck, dragging him to the floor beside him before pinning him down, straddling his waist.

"Oh you absolute fuck," snarled Shane, his arms shaking as he struggled to keep Ryan's hands away. "Feeling nostalgic, are you?"

Ryan didn't reply, pushing down harder, Shane's arms giving a few inches. He was _mad_. He was so fucking mad. And then he saw it; the flicker of fear in Shane's eyes, quick as a flash. Good. Let him be scared. This is the end, for the both of them. No point in trying to be nice.

"Ryan, stop it!" His arms burned from trying to hold the shorter man away, but they didn't burn half as much as the unadulterated rage in Ryan's eyes. "Get off!"

He suddenly let his hand slip past Ryan's, punching him hard in the throat. He shoved Ryan coughing and spluttering off him to the side, scrambling to get towards the phone. He felt a pair of hands on his shirt, yanking him back, he half-turned just in time to get a punch right across the face. Shane dropped to an elbow, the tiles cold against his skin. Without hesitating, Ryan grabbed him by the collar, basically throwing him against the cupboards like a bag of trash. Shane slid to the floor, on his hands and knees, panting for breath. Ryan wasn't quite through, however. He gave him a savage kick in the side, hard enough for Shane to hit back against the cupboards, the doors rattling.

"Fucking _Christ_ , Ryan!" The taller man clutched his side as he leaned against the kitchen cupboards, one elbow propping him up, his head hanging. "Jesus."

"Are you gonna do it?" demanded Ryan, fists clenched by his sides. "Are you gonna do what I told you to?"

"No," replied Shane heatedly, raising his head to glare at him. "Fuck you."

The second kick was twice as hard as the first, leaving him entirely winded, sliding to the floor. He heard Ryan walk away, coming back almost instantly, crouching down beside him. Shane raised his head, glaring at Ryan over his arm.

"Do it," said Ryan coldly, shoving the phone at him. "Now. Or I swear to God I'll finish it."

Shane didn't reply for a few long moments, shoulders heaving as he panted for breath. "And then what. We just end?"

There it was again. That pull at his heart. "We end."

"And you want that?"

"I- Stop trying to confuse me, Shane!" He realized he was blinking back tears, lips pressed together. "Just do it. Ring your team."

"I can't just-"

"Make something up." Ryan dropped the phone in front of him, staying crouched. "Then we're- we're done."

"We're done." Shane slowly picked up the phone, warily, keeping an eye on Ryan as he did so. "We never see each other again?"

"We never see each other again," said Ryan, hoping his voice didn't sound half as shaky as Shane's had been. "Never."

Why was it so damn hard to end a relationship with someone who literally destroyed you? Even as he looked at Shane dialing TJ, he could remember when that face used to laugh, used to smile, used to be the Shane he first met. He swallowed, pretty sure he could feel a knife being wedged between his shoulder blades. _No. Do it for Kelsey. For Steven. For Adam. For people who were actually loyal to you._

"Hey, TJ. I've got news. Bad news. We've had the wrong guys the whole time." Shane closed his eyes as he listened to his friend freak out, Sara promptly joining. "I'll- I'll explain it to you in detail later. But they've just been a cover. Yeah, for those guys, Fulmer and those guys. I- I found something. I'll show you tomorrow."

Ryan watched him closely, for even a hint that he was trying to tell TJ something else. Shane lowered the phone, hanging up, letting it drop to the tiles before burying his head in his hand. For a moment, Ryan felt bad. He swiftly pushed this feeling down, deep down, with all the others.

"It won't work for long," said Shane quietly, raising his eyes to meet Ryan's. "They're gonna click within a week."

"That gives me plenty of time to get out of the country." _Kelsey and Steven probably already have the flights booked_. Ryan straightened up, taking Shane's phone with him, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to leave. "You'll never apologize for what you did to me, will you?"

Shane pushed himself to his feet, using the counter as a prop, his face guarded. "No. I won't."

"Even though you ruined me." _Fuck, don't cry_. "You ruined my life."

"No." Shane looked pale, breathing shallow, but he didn't take his eyes from the shorter man's. "No. Never. Because you ruined me too, Ryan. And _you_ never apologized."

Ryan stayed silent, wondering how he ever even fell in love with this guy. Well, he didn't. He'd fallen in love with Shane. The old Shane. 

"Do you know how many times I almost lost my job because of you?" Shane's voice was sharp and cold, like needles of ice. "How many times the superintendent would take me aside, ask where the bruises were coming from?"

He had to leave. He had to leave before he did something reckless. "Goodbye, Shane."

Shane didn't take his eyes from the shorter man's, and Ryan didn't move. _Fuck_ , why was this so difficult? Shane knew he should just treat it like a plaster, just rip it off, but this is a very hard thing to do when the plaster is basically melted to your skin. And Ryan was looking up at him with his big eyes, he looked so _vulnerable_. Ignoring his sound mind, Shane leaned down, pressing his lips to Ryan's in a slow kiss. The shorter man closed his eyes, kissing him back, hands cupping his face. And for once, it didn't grow hard and fierce. It just stayed soft. Tender. Almost loving. But at the end of the day, there's no point in watering a dead flower.

Ryan turned away, his vision watery as he headed for the door. He heard Shane slide to the floor, giving a quiet sob, muffled by his hands.

And as much as he wanted Shane to follow, to tell him to come back, to tell him he was sorry, he didn't. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i told y'all
> 
> here's a song that pretty much inspired the ending https://youtu.be/jfNOdsvMke4  
> listen if u like to cry


End file.
